Bucoda Becomes 'Boo-Coda' With a Month of Halloween Fun Ahead

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With October being the official spooky month, Bucoda is preparing for its month-long Halloween celebrations with the Boo-Coda Spook-Tacular festival.

Aside from changing the town’s name to Boo-Coda for the month, the town has a plethora of events scheduled throughout the month to show that it truly is the “world’s tiniest town with the biggest Halloween spirit.” The town’s annual, official name-change proclamation is scheduled to take place on Oct. 1, just before the Pine Box Derby Casket Races.

The Chronicle has chosen to enact the name change early for purposes of this story.

Boo-Coda will host a haunted house in the 1939 gymnasium located on 403 N. Nenant St. The gym itself is believed to be haunted, with paranormal activity having been documented in the past. It will be open each weekend until Halloween starting on Sept. 30. General admission is $13 and a VIP ticket is $20.

The haunted house will be open Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, 7, 8, 14, 15, 21, 22 from 7 to 11 p.m. and then from 7 to 10 p.m. throughout Halloween week starting on Oct. 26 and going to Oct. 31 with the exceptions of Oct. 28 and 29 when it will be open until 11 p.m. and Oct. 30 when it will be closed. 

Trick or treating at historic Joe’s Place, located on 118 S. Main St. in Boo-Coda, will take place every night throughout the month from 6 to 8 p.m. and a vendor fair will also be held every Saturday on Main Street this month from noon to 5 p.m.

On Saturday, Oct. 1, the Tenino Young-At-Heart Theater will put on a performance at noon. Then, at 1 p.m., the Pine Box Derby Casket Races will be held. Each participating race team must have four pallbearers and one corpse and teams can build their own casket or borrow one from the city to race on the 150-foot long track.

Awards will be given for the three fastest entries as well as the one in dead last. The races will be held on Seventh Street in downtown Boo-Coda.

On Saturday, Oct. 8, the SambaOlyWa Brazilian Dance Troupe will put on a performance featuring skeleton costumes and spooky songs at noon followed by the hearse procession. The procession will be led by the Tenino High School marching band who will perform New Orleans-style funeral music and will be followed by a viewing of the hearses.



Deadline for hearse registration is Oct. 1 and both the dance performance and hearse procession will take place on Main Street in Boo-Coda. These events are free to attend.

On Saturday, Oct. 15, a costume contest and parade will be held starting at 1 p.m. on Main Street in Boo-Coda. After the parade, the judging will begin at 1:30 p.m. and awards will be given out for petrifying pets, impish individuals (all-ages category), ghoulish groups (3 or more people), creepy couples, terrible tots with pets and cute and creepy kiddos with pets. Then, at 3:30 p.m. the Spooky Sprint Costume Dash will be held. This event is free to attend.

On Saturday, Oct. 22, the Frightening Family Fun Day will begin at noon and registration for the costume contest starts at 12:30 p.m. Categories include terrible tots and cute and creepy kiddos again, both with and without pets as well as terrifying teens. The kids family dance for those 13 and under will take place from 2 to 4 p.m. and for those 14 and up from 5 to 7 p.m., events will take place on Main Street in Boo-Coda and are free to attend.

On Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29, a family friendly haunted house will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. at the Bucoda Community Center on 101A E. 7th Street in Boo-Coda. Entry is $5 or alternatively donations of five cans of non-perishable food for the Tenino Community Services Center, two books for the South Sound Reading Foundation or a coat or blanket to be donated to local charities.

Finally, on Saturday, Oct. 29 the Thrill the World Dance will be held at the Boo-Coda Town Hall on 7th Street. Check-in begins at noon, with line-up for the dance at 2:50 p.m. and the dance itself at 3 p.m. and is free to attend.

Thrill the World is a worldwide simultaneous dance attempt being held to set the record for the most dancers at one time dancing to Michael Jackson’s song, Thriller.

Learn more at https://boo-coda.com/