RUTLAND, Vt. (WCAX) – Halloween lovers in the Rutland area gearing up for one of the area’s favorite holiday traditions.
“It’s incredible to see everybody come together to put together such a giant event for such a small community,” said Paige Prouty, the owner of several small businesses in town. On Saturday, she and others will walk in the Rutland Halloween Parade, one of the nation’s largest and longest-running.
“They’re totally surprised that something could pop out of little old Rutland. But when you actually come and you see it, with all the people, all the lights and the dancing skeletons, of course, it’s a whole ‘nother experience,” Prouty said.
Locals say the annual event draws crowds of up to 20,000, and not just from the Green Mountains.
“We hear people locally having people come from different states traveling to see it and we just try and pack as much fun as we can into that one night,” said Colleen Shattuck with the Rutland Rec Community Center.
“Rutland draws people together, even people that don’t live in the city. It draws people from all around and that is part of the magic of what happens in our city,” said Rutland Mayor Mike Doenges.
Shattuck says they’ve got more than 80 floats signed up to haunt the streets of downtown, the highest number in five years.
Upwards of 1,500 people will march behind them. “We really don’t have to do much work driving people to the Halloween Parade, it kind of does that itself,” she said.
All that magic starts with the parade lineup on Strong Avenue on Saturday evening.
Organizers say to keep a watchful eye out for road closures around the city. If there’s any bad weather, the rain date is set for Sunday.