Halloween On Beals Street In Brookline: 'Mayhem. But Fun'

BROOKLINE, MA — A number of dinosaurs were on the loose Tuesday night on Beals Street in Brookline. One small warrior was so distracted by a living breathing dinosaur he forgot about the mission at hand.

"The dinosaur has derailed him," said his mother as she reminded her son to say "trick-or-treat" and grab a piece of candy before he went on to tell most of the people he passed that he saw about the dinosaur.

By 6 p.m a Brookline police officer had closed the road at Harvard Street and dinosaurs, Elsa's, unicorns, whales, storm troopers, hot dogs, and firefighters and policemen and other super heroes took over the neighborhood, as they do each Oct. 31 in Brookline.

"It's pandemonium. It's mayhem. But it's a lot of fun," said Jasper Weinberg who stood at the bottom of his parents' home handing out startlight mint candies one at a time to witches and goblins, dressed as a Steam Punk. "It gets very intense."

Beatrice Palmer (a skeleton) and Tia Percheva (a unicorn) both 10, agree. They say they love it when the street fills. They have a plan. They'll stay and hand out candy until the street gets closed off at 6 and then head down to Trick-or-Treat on Beals, then Manchester Street then hit up the haunted house.

"It's almost like MartiGras," said Esther Kattef, who taught at the Devotion School for 35 years and who has been ooing and ahhing over costumes on Halloween for the past four years. "oh! A ranger!" she said as one very small man in a ranger hat marched up the wooden steps to her home.

Parents took turns reminding their child to wait their turn, remember to say "trick-or-treat" and say thank you after securing Tootsie rolls or pops from Kattef's bowl.

"We're out here til dark and the street just fills," said Kattef. "It's just excitement."

In 2016 Kattef said she gave away some 2,000 pieces of candy.

This year, parents dressed up along with the smaller children (the "real living breathing dinosaur" was actually a man dressed in a T-Rex costume, father of a pterodactyl that loudly cawed when he was getting close to candy), and those who didn't went around with smiles on their faces as they took photos.

"It's such a good community event I just love the joy of the whole event," she said.

A 3-year-old Incredible Hulk marches up the stairs of the Beals Street home. "oh! Scary!" says Kattef. "I'm sorry," says the tiny Hulk before he grabs his treat and his parents waiting below cue him to say thank you.

Photos by Jenna Fisher/Patch