In Search of Chewbacca at Poplar Place on Halloween

We went to see the annual Halloween parade at Centralia, IL on Oct. 25th. It got pretty chilly during the two hour parade, and the wind started blowing, but it was a really great parade, as always. Then we headed to our favorite bar, Poplar Place. Poplar Place always has a Halloween party after the parade. However, this year, they changed the costume contest, etc, until next Friday, the 31st., which is actually Halloween...so not as many people were dressed up in costumes as usual, but there were enough to make it interesting.

In Search of Chewbacca.....

While we were crossing the street to Poplar Place, I could see someone was dressed like Chewbacca, but couldn't get close enough to get a good look at the costume. So, we went downstairs to the large bar area, where the dance floor is huge and the band was already playing. Soon some friends spotted us and we joined them for the rest of the evening. The place was packed. Every now and then I would get a glimpse of Chewbacca, take off with my camera, but when I got through the crowd, he had vanished. This happened over and over again. I never got a picture of him, but I never gave up. It got to be pretty funny after a while. I DID come face to face with him as I was squishing through to get to the bathroom, but of course, I didn't have my camera with me then. I don't know how such a tall person could disappear like that...I even started asking random strangers, "Where is Chewbacca?", they would point this way and that way....I think he must have just taken off with Hon Solo....:-)
The bathroom was another issue....it was not a good idea to wear a tail....but that's another tale....

Anyway, as I mentioned,we ran into our friends, Mark, Patty and Robert, and also a friend from our last job, Dwight. It was great to see them all and we had lots of laughs. In fact, we mostly just visited and laughed, and danced, oh and had a few beers. It was a fun evening, as always. Ah, but there's still a whole week to go before the 31st. :-)

The evening flew by, I could hardly believe it when I looked at the clock and it was 1:00 a.m. Halloween night is always too short...