Community Corner

Costume Parades and Crazy Hats, BOE Candidates Speak

Pre-Halloween parades for kids, a senior event featuring kooky chapeaux and Wednesday sanitation pickup information.

Here's what you need to know for Wednesday.

  • Halloween is Thursday! In Sparta, the youngest residents get their own early holiday event at the Sparta Public Library. At 10:30 a.m. in the Children's Room, kids from 12 months to 6 are invited to come to hear a story in the picture book section and then show off their costumes in a special Halloween Parade outside the library (weather permitting). The fun ends with a treat. This event is free, and registration is not required. The Sparta Library is at 22 Woodport Road.
  • Hopatcong children get a Wednesday Halloween Parade too. From 2:30-3 p.m., kids can show off their costumes as they parade through the library and trick-or-treat for bookmarks and other little items. Kids in preschoolers through grade 3 are welcome and starts after Preschool Story Time. (The library says all trick-or-treaters are welcome, even if story time registration is full.) No registration is required for the parade. The library is at 21 Sparta Road in Stanhope.
  • Seniors can start their bewitching fun early with a Wednesday Crazy Hat and Costume Party at the Hopatcong Senior Center, 32 Lakeside Blvd. Just the title tells you that this should be one crazy fun party. Guests get to participate in helping to make it a success by bringing along a finger food or appetizer. The event, which begins at 5 p.m., is free, but you must make a reservation by calling Loretta Rankin at 973-398-2217. 
  • Just in time for the Nov. 5 general election, on Wednesday the Hopatcong Elementary Parent-Teacher Organization presents a non-political Meet the Candidates Night. This forum covers only the borough's Board of Education race. All of the candidates—Joan Reilly, Frank J. Farrruggia Jr., John H. Maine, Anthony Fasano, Amber Charlebois and Michele Perrotti—have been invited to present their platforms and take questions from residents. The event will be held at Durban Avenue School, 616 Durban Ave., at 7 p.m.
  • Keeping It Clean: In Hopatcong, sanitation crews will follow Garbage Pickup Schedule B. The Recycle Center will be open Wednesday from 9 a.m.-noon. In Sparta, check with the online schedule.


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