Setting the mood: Halloween activities abound for all ages

Halloween doesn't just mean gory, gruesome haunted houses, dripping blood and cobweb decorations for the children who attended the Cape Girardeau Public Library's annual Halloween story time and pumpkin carving contest. For those youngsters, Halloween was more fun than scary.

With spooky songs and Halloween jokes, more than 70 children and their families spent Saturday afternoon celebrating the season.

Ten-year-old Mallory Dickson will be a pirate when she goes trick-or-treating. She picked out a skull to carve onto a pumpkin to match her outfit. She looks forward to Halloween every year.

"The world is changing, parents aren't necessarily comfortable sending their kids out in the street trick-or-treating," said Sharon Anderson, Youth Services Coordinator at the library. "This is a way to let them experience a little bit of the fun in a friendly and safe environment."

More than 40 children stayed after story time to carve pumpkins.

The adults cut out the tops or bottoms of the pumpkins and let the youngsters scoop out the guts.

Many of the children said the squishy insides of the pumpkin felt like worms.

Carie Keagle, 10, saved all of her pumpkin seeds to plant for next year. She will water the seeds and hope they grow into big round pumpkins that she can sell.

This year Carie sold some of the pumpkins she grew for a dollar.

"She takes care of it, she gets to collect it," said Carie's mother, Annette Keagle.

Anabella Donaldson-Michael, 3, was one of the first to finish carving. She chose a scary face with round eyes and a round nose. Excitement and pride radiated from Anabella's face as her grandmother, Vicki Michael, lit the candle to make the pumpkin glow.

The library still has ideas for last-minute costumes and pumpkin-carving patterns. It is open from 1 to 5 p.m. today.

ameyer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 127