Table of Contents
Families streamed into the Brown School parking lot Friday evening as the sun set, greeted by inflatable monsters, carnival game booths and the sounds of children in costume running between activities.
The school’s annual Monster Mash Halloween carnival drew more than 1,000 attendees for an evening of cookie decorating, carnival games, face painting and a haunted house. The event, now in its fifth year, began in 2021 when the new Brown School building opened, with about 950 people attending that first gathering.
Planning for the October event starts each July, when parent volunteers form committees and begin reaching out to vendors. This year’s haunted house theme centered on “Wicked” and “The Wizard of Oz,” with high school students from the National Honor Society and theater programs staffing attractions and game booths for community service hours.
Annie Vayner, Parent Teacher Organization chair and Monster Mash co-chair with Adriana Katow, said the event reflects the school community’s commitment to bringing families together.
“I would say just a real sense of pride in the school and enjoyment of the holiday and excitement to, you know, get the community together, get the families together and have some fun, dress up, and it’s really like a labor of love,” Vayner said. “It’s not easy, but it’s people are happy to do it.”
Meaghan DeSoto, whose oldest child was in kindergarten when the building opened and is now in 4th grade, described the months of work by parent volunteers. A couple of parents take the lead and form a committee, starting in August with planning, reaching out to vendors and pulling pieces together, she said.
“It takes a lot of work, but the kids are so happy,” DeSoto said. “It’s always so worth it.”
Children moved between activity stations throughout the evening. At the cookie-decorating table, students added sprinkles and candy corn to frosted treats. Craft tables offered sand art “potions” and Halloween ornament painting. Carnival games like Spooky Swish kept lines of costumed children busy while parents watched. The dunk tank drew crowds as volunteers took turns in the water.
Brown’s mascot, Frogger, posed for photos with students dressed as superheroes, princesses and dinosaurs. Parents also dressed up, with some wearing costumes ranging from Mary Poppins to matching cow onesies.
Second grader Adeline Frias attended in a handmade macaw costume — her favorite bird — that her father helped her create over a week and a half. She said teachers had marked Monster Mash on classroom calendars and talked about it repeatedly in the days before the event.
“It’s just really fun,” Frias said when asked what she loves about attending Brown School.
Tickets cost $17, with funds going toward community-building rather than generating profit. Sarah Timm, a parent with one child who graduated from Brown last year and another in 1st grade, said the financial goal is to break even.
“It’s actually we don’t even make money on it. We just kind of break even, pretty much,” Timm said, adding that former students return for the event. “I know fourth graders, who don’t go here anymore who are stoked to come back. They’re so excited.”
The sense of community has been deliberately cultivated since the building opened. DeSoto credited principal Mary Maxfield and assistant principal Matt Manfredi with building connections among students, teachers, staff and parents through events like Monster Mash.
The new building consolidated three former elementary schools, requiring intentional effort to unite families from different neighborhoods. DeSoto said those community-building events have proven important in creating cohesion.
“I think across the board, everyone really wants what’s best for the students,” DeSoto said.
Vayner noted that planning discussions begin in July with meetings where organizers pick a theme and start brainstorming what to build for the haunted house. Volunteers decorated the haunted house Friday, with high school students then staffing it along with games, face-painting and fortune-telling booths throughout the evening.
By nightfall, the school grounds were lit with jack-o’-lanterns and glowing decorations as families continued moving between activities. What began four years ago as a first gathering for a newly consolidated school community has grown into a fall tradition drawing more than 1,000 attendees each year.
