Getting Ready for Costume Foolery

NORTHRIDGE —  In the to-the-wire race to get ready for Halloween, Wednesday’s rains were a blessing for Van Nuys contractor Mike Miele.

The morning downpour forced Miele to skip work, giving him a chance to scour stores for the Indiana Jones costume coveted by his 10-year-old son, Benjamin--one of legions of children whose last-minute Halloween wishes sent parents rummaging through picked-over costume racks.

“Yesterday? You sold the last Indiana Jones costume yesterday?” an exasperated Miele asked a clerk at the Halloween Adventure specialty shop. He frantically scribbled the addresses of the chain’s other San Fernando Valley locations, then set out into the midmorning rain.

“I’m going to be up until midnight working on this, I know,” Miele grumbled.

It was actually just before 6 p.m. when he found the last bit of paraphernalia he needed to construct a child-sized copy of the movie adventurer’s outfit. “It could have been worse,” he said, as he and his family finally headed home from a Northridge mall. At least this year, only one of his kids forced Miele on a last-minute scavenger hunt. Weeks ago, his 4-year-old daughter, Amanda, settled on her kitty costume from last year.

While morning rains discouraged all but the most desperate shoppers, by nightfall, Halloween stores and pumpkin patches were doing their usual brisk holiday-eve business.

“This is our busiest day of the year,” said Lenny Goldman, owner of Halloween Adventure. “After 5, when people get home from work, all our stores get really busy on the night before Halloween.” The weather is not expected to put a damper on the Valley’s Halloween festivities. Forecasters say the rain will be gone long before trick-or-treaters flood the streets tonight. But in case bad weather prevails, local malls, recreation centers and other indoor venues are prepared to take up the slack.

The Glendale Galleria will have 30 trick-or-treat stations--stocked with 300,000 pieces of candy--scattered throughout the mall. About 10,000 youngsters, and more if it rains, are expected to visit between 5 and 7 p.m., said the mall’s marketing director, Deborah Blackford.

“We tell the merchants this is not a time for sales, this is a time for customer service,” Blackford said. Still, a rainy Halloween could mean a bonanza for shopkeepers.

“The family can have dinner here, then Dad can take the kids to the candy stations, while Mom goes to an apparel store,” she said. And while the candy is free, the accouterments--like a picture with the Great Pumpkin--are not.

For Valley children, the malls will be one of several possible Halloween destinations, including carnivals, costume contests, haunted houses and, of course, neighborhood trick-or-treating.

Costumes will also replace uniforms and everyday clothes at many Valley schools today.

At Sylmar’s Herrick Avenue Elementary School, the annual Halloween parade and carnival is the year’s most popular playground production.

“Whole families come, with their cameras and their little ones,” said school office manager Katie Tanijiri.

“We’re watching the sky and hoping it doesn’t rain,” she said. “That would mean we’d have to have them parade around the auditorium, with the parents and all crowding inside. That’s not the best way to spend Halloween.”