Halloween is coming to southeast Iowa a little early this year as Burlington is hosting what it’s calling The Night of the Living Windows starting at 5 o’clock tonight.
Amy Moyner, executive director of Burlington’s Downtown Partners, says families are encouraged to dress in costume and stroll along Jefferson Street to see who, or what, might be lurking.
“Several businesses will be having characters in their shop windows. One is going to have live tarantulas, another one is going to have a little haunted tour throughout the store,” Moyner says. “At the Art Center, they’re going to have dead artists coming to life in the windows, so think Picasso and Rembrandt and all of those.”
Dozens of Burlington residents, including Moyner, have been working with a choreographer for weeks to reproduce the famous dance from Michael Jackson’s 1983 “Thriller” video.
“We have over 70 dancers — and people that are dancing at home, too, because we did put that practice video out there,” Moyner says. “We’ve had ages 10 to I think the oldest dancer is 83. We are dressing as zombies. We’re getting out there and will be walking the streets before and after the performances.”
The Thriller Flash Mob will perform at 5:30 and 6:30 PM in front of the Capitol Theater.
“We have free haunted horse and trolley rides, this is family friendly though, so not too spooky,” she says. “The fire department downtown will be roasting s’mores, and then at 7:30, we’re going to have the 1961 original movie, ‘Psycho’.”
Moviegoers can bring lawn chairs or grab a seat on hay bales as the Hitchcock classic will be playing outdoors in the parking lot at 5th and Valley.
All of the night’s events are free.
