Halloween, Chapel Hill style

I hope everyone’s Halloween was fun and safe, and fun. Mine was all three. I would have posted about my Halloween night earlier, but Halloween did a number on my sleep schedule, and I still haven’t recovered. Why you ask? Well, because Chapel Hill likes Halloween a lot.

You see, every year for Halloween, Chapel Hill shuts off Franklin Street (the main road in downtown) so people can walk around in their Halloween best. This isn’t a few people mind you, but rather close to 50,000, according to Town Hall. From what I understand, it’s one of the biggest parties in the nation, and people come from all over to attend. While I didn’t meet anyone from North Dakota or anything, I still had a grand ol’ time.

After a 25 minute walk from where I parked (because I’m not paying $7 for parking), I arrived on Franklin Street, and was immediately bombarded by costumes of every kind. Some were good, some were great, and some deserved mention:

-10 or so guys, dressed all in white, running in a straight line, with the words “Fallopian swim team” emblazoned on their chest. That’s right, they were sperm.
-A guy dressed as a picture. He had a very large frame surrounding a picture of a general of something, and his head and hand stuck through. I’m not describing it very well, but it was cool.
-A walking Haunted House.
-a guy dressed as a Red Bull can.
-Two guys: one as someone’s facebook profile, the other was someone’s facebook “wall” with all the quotes. I probably like this one so much because I just got addicted to facebook, as some of you know.

Back to my night—so there I was, walking up and down a street I’ve driven on a million times, feeling a little weird because I knew I shouldn’t be able to stand in the middle of Franklin and Columbia, the busiest intersection in Chapel Hill. I mean, when the traffic lights turned from red to green, I had to fight the instinct of getting the hell out of the way of nonexistent oncoming traffic.

It was also a little weird because of the makeup of the crowd. Before this night, I thought Chapel Hill was diverse, but I now realize that this perception was based on the fact that I’ve never been around so many people of Asian or Indian/Pakistani decent. However, when I’m a little shocked from Chapel Hill’s sudden increase in Black and Latinos, I decided that Chapel Hill is quite homogenous ethnically. What the hell am I talking about? Yeah, I don’t know either, ignore me.

So, all during this night, I was awaiting calls from two friends. However, when it was 11:30, and I hadn’t heard from either of them, I decided to call. Come to find out that my calls could not be completed because all the lines were busy (that’s what thousands of people, in one area, trying to use their cell phones, will do). No incoming or outgoing calls would be going through the cell anytime soon. Damn.


"Can you hear me now? What, 'call can not be completed,' what the..."

Eventually, I got in contact with Andy R., and eventually I met up with him. I should mention that I haven’t seen Andy since high school graduation, but through the glory of facebook, I got to see him this night. And whenever you get to see a friend dressed as a right breast (or was he the left), it’s a good day. Plus, he bought me a beer, so go Andy.

After seeing an almost-bar fight and watching a guy climb a light post, Andy, his crew, and I made a late night run to Time Out Chicken. This is the local 24 hour “greasy spoon,” which was also Michael Jordan’s favorite place back when he went to UNC. How he stayed in shape AND ate there is a mystery to me. What’s also a mystery is why I decided to actually eat something at 1:30 am, but oh well.

Remember how I said I haven’t seen Andy since high school? Well, let me transcribe a little conversation for you:

Me: Andy, I need to tell you something.
Andy: Yeah?
Me: Um…I’m gay.
Andy: Okay. And?
Me: Um…yeah, that was it.

Yeah, that’s an awesome response. I’ll say it again, go Andy.

After walking back to Andy’s friend’s house, I had my first experience of holding someone up while they did a (pitiful) keg stand. How did I make it through four years of college without ever doing that? Oh yeah, I went to Furman.

And so, finally, around 3am, after a night of Halloween craziness and 4.5 hours on my feet, my head hit the pillow. Two last things. First, much love to the Chapel Hill Police Department; they were everywhere, and I felt safe, even if their restrictions on plastic pitchforks and knifes was a little Nazi. Second, for Halloween, I went as Jay-Z.



People enjoyed the costume, except probably all the guys I passed who were wearing something similar, but weren’t wearing costumes. Awkward.