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Tana Crate’s friends and siblings look forward to her annual Halloween party like kids do Christmas. “Everyone really gets into it,” she says. “You wouldn’t believe the costumes people come up with.”
The Millinocket native rattles off some of the “guests” who have shown up at her home in recent Octobers: Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Hugh Hefner, Fred and Wilma Flintstone, Mother Nature, the Energizer Bunny, Henry VIII (complete with tights and turkey drumstick), plus assorted ghosts, goblins, and aliens, and even Dr. Jack Kevorkian, who, Crate says, “kept walking around taking everyone’s pulse.”
Tana Crate, a hairstylist by trade, also exercises her creative talents by putting on several gatherings a year. Whether it’s a birthday, graduation, or her annual Halloween shindig, every “Tana Party” includes wall-to-wall decorations, carefully selected music, extravagant amounts of food, and, most of the time, games and party favors. “I approach parties like you would for little kids—except instead of jello, I serve jello shots.”
For her Halloween annual, the decoration process starts in September, when Crate changes out her summer decor for fall leaves, flowers, and autumn-themed linens and accents. Two weeks before Halloween, she adds whimsical spiders, ghosts, and jack-o-lanterns. “I don’t put up anything too creepy. I don’t want to scare the trick-or-treaters.”
The decorations extend from the front door, through the back porch hair salon, all the way to the deck and patios. A quick stroll outside tells the story: This woman is a master at using pathways, containers, fencing, and seating to create outdoor “rooms.”
On party nights, nearly every room has its own fire, be it in a brick fireplace, copper firepit, or Mexican chiminea.
“Tana’s a pyro,” says her friend Christine McLain [the glamorous witch on the cover]. McLain, a restaurant owner who is also trained in the beauty industry, and her husband, Shannon, are famous for appearing at Crate’s annual party in elaborate costumes. In Christine’s case, she has the skill to make her hair color match her persona, be she Marilyn Monroe or Wilma Flintstone. Shannon McLain works construction all across the country; in October 2007, says Christine, “he could only come home for a day and a half, but he planned it around Tana’s party.”
Food is as plentiful at these gatherings as fires and costumed characters. While Crate has some staples that she often serves at her parties, such as her signature chili, she likes to try a new recipe or two at each event. This evening, while Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix shop for tunes from her huge CD collection, Crate puts out a new appetizer she calls Dessert Beans. “It’s just two 16 ounce cans of kidney beans, one cup of molasses, a 16 ounce can of crushed pineapple, one cup barbeque sauce, and most of a can of dried onion rings. Reserve enough onions to sprinkle on top, and bake at 350 for an hour.” Tonight, she serves the beans with a potato salad “to help cut the sweetness.”
At this point, Crate’s sister arrives with her husband. The recently retired couple, usually known for their creative costumes, have gone low maintenance this year, wearing tropical shirts. “We’re snowbirds,” one says. Next at the door is a buxom redhead, 6-foot-5, wearing a tight black leather skirt and red high-heeled pumps—size 13. “I bought them on eBay,” he says, not even trying to hide the testosterone powering his voice. “I should have ordered 14s.” He amuses the group with complaints about having to count calories to keep his girlish figure, and the run in his brand-new queen-sized panty hose.
“This guy’s a riot,” Crate’s sister says. “Who is he?”
“His name is Sully. I think he’s a white- water rafting guide.”
“Don’t you know him?”
“I‘ve only met him once before tonight.”
“How’d he find out about the party?”
“Are you kidding?” McLain says. “Everyone in town knows about Tana’s Halloween party.”
