“Do it for the memories.” That is what Teresa Bonham says about families and others dressing for the Main Street Crestview Fall Festival, held Saturday, Oct. 31, in downtown Crestview.
Bonham and 11 family members dressed up as characters from “The Wizard of Oz” for the event. The group of 13, including their schnauzer, Voodoo, as Toto, took home the Best Group Costume award.
Bonham says they selected “The Wizard of Oz” because it provided enough characters for everyone in the group to participate. However, some of the roles were predetermined.
“With the Cowardly lion costume, it needed to be a big person,” she said. “The toddlers could all be munchkins, because that was a larger overall group.”
Making sure everyone had a character was only part of the preparation process. Bonham said the family spent several weeks planning and putting their costumes together.
“We started planning about six weeks before the event,” she said. “We did order some things, but most of the costumes were done at my kitchen table with my sewing machine.”
She said one of the best parts was having everyone in the group participate, including an autistic child who played a vital role.
“He did well throughout the event and was very excited when they won.”
Even with all the preparation, not everything went as planned. They wanted to play songs from “The Wizard of Oz” soundtrack on a portable speaker, but it was not working correctly, and they were not able to use it.
This was not the first time her group won the group category. In 2025, Bonham’s group dressed up as the Addams Family. In 2024, their group donned outfits from “The Flintstones.”
She said that the family is already looking for themes for next year’s Fall Festival and hopes to have more people take part in their group.
“We want to have more than 13, maybe, 17.”
She would also like to see more families and groups take part in the event, including adding competition for the group category.
“(The Fall Festival) is a big deal for Crestview and the surrounding area,” she said. “Obviously, it takes a lot of work, but the end result is everybody remembering what you did at Halloween and other events like that.”
