Bus driver Valerie Horkoff pulled out all the stops on her Boundary route in the lead up to this year’s Halloween.
Horkoff said she’s been shuttling folks between Grand Forks and neighbouring Greenwood for six years running, going as far as Rock Creek on Tuesdays. She decorates her rig every year, she said.
The bus was strewn with ghosts and spider-webbing when The Gazette came aboard Friday, Oct. 30. An Egyptian mummy was strapped upright behind the steering column, life-sized but deathly.
A ghoulish creature looked out from under a brown fedora from a dark rear corner, its blue eyes bulging from its sunken green eye sockets. Each figure was firmly rooted where it stood, but Horkoff had positioned them in such a way as to encourage that willing suspension of doubt that lives even in seasoned riders.
Passengers could see the creatures weren’t going to leap out at them, but it wouldn’t have been hard to imagine they might, especially after hearing the mummy’s spooky moan.
“It’s about seeing the reactions on the kids’ faces,” Horkoff explained. “It’s neat to get on the bus around Halloween and see decorations.”
“I just like the way they dress-up nowadays. Back when I was a little girl, if you decided to go out on Halloween, you just found your dad’s old shirt and a pair of pants and you went as a hobo.”
A mother of twin 17-year-old boys, Horkoff said she still enjoys giving out candy at her Grand Forks home.
“I give out full chocolate bars,” she said.
The Gazette wishes Horkoff and all of you a safe and happy Halloween this year. Be scary and be well.
@ltritsch1
laurie.tritschler@grandforksgazette.ca
Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.