It was a brisk, windy Fall day in Elgin, Illinois when I arrived for their annual Nightmare on Chicago Street. Alice Moring from Acme Design graciously invited me to cover their spectacular Halloween spectacle while Jim Roche – Executive Producer of MeTV’s Svengoolie show – asked if I could assist them as well. The zombie “Safe Zone” opened at 6 p.m. with the streets completely cleared for a K-9 bomb sweep from 3:30 – 5. I arrived at 3:15 to get a decent parking space before quickly sequestering myself inside Svengoolie headquarters.
Svengoolie Headquarters
Thankfully, Sven’s signing location was the same as it was last year and I was able to get there before the Elgin Police brought the dogs out. I was greeted by Acme Design’s Elizabeth Haney and Alice Mooring as well as John LaFleur – a local artist who also heads up Elgin’s annual Krampus Krawl I attended a few years back.
John, Alice, and Elizabeth
After being given the ‘all clear,’ I roamed the Safe Zone while snapping as many photos as I could before Svengoolie’s arrival.
With the success of HBO’s The Last of Us, this year’s event featured some incredibly detailed replicas of the fungal monsters and fungus-draped buildings.
One vendor also capitalized on the show’s popularity by offering mushroom-themed luminaries.
As usual, Nightmare on Chicago Street offered their patrons plenty of festive food and adult beverages.
Another annual dilemma at Nightmare on Chicago Street is figuring out where to look first as this is one horror celebration that’s totally immersive.
Elliott Serrano interviews a visitor from Elm Street
After receiving a text from Jim that the Svengoolie crew was en route, I quickly returned to Svengoolie headquarters. Although the doors had just opened, his fans had already begun assembling outside. I wasn’t surprised to see super fan, Nanette Keir, first in line.
It was exactly ten years ago when I was standing in this same line and Jim Roche came out, called my name, and brought me in as an honorary member of the crew. For the next decade I’d be granted a ringside seat covering his appearances and eventually performing more hands-on tasks such as selling Svengoolie t-shirts (as I would this night) or photographing my fellow fans with their cameras when they meet him. This is a blessing I’ve never taken for granted and I got downright misty-eyed looking at this line and remembering the last time I’d stood in it.
When the crew arrived I quickly got to work setting up the t-shirt table. This year, in addition to Jim, Svengoolie was accompanied by his Director, Chris Faulkner, and a cameraman I believe was hired specifically for this event and not a MeTV employee. I was selling shirts on the opposite side of Svengoolie as I did last year which made for a bad angle in terms of photography but definitely more practical logistically. While we waited for the doors to open, Svengoolie did an interview and I hung out with Elliott Serrano who’d be resuming his duties as host of the big costume contest. Elliott is a good friend who hosted a couple of elephant trivia night fund-raisers I did back when I was a member of the Brookfield Zoo AAZK (American Association of Zoo Keepers) Chapter. We’re both a couple of old STAR WARS geeks and chatted about “Ashoka” and Indiana Jones before parting ways to perform our assigned duties.
It took me a while to recognize that one fan, dressed as the original Jerry G. Bishop Svengoolie, was none other than Warner Huston! Warner later told me that Sven commented on how authentic his costume looked and that his crew shot footage of him. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Warner in his amazing costume appear in an upcoming “Svengoolie on the Road” segment.
After the signing, we had a 30-minute break before Svengoolie needed to head over to the center stage for the costume contest. Sven signed my Toony Terrors and Super 7 figures as well as all my “Svengoolie: Lost in Time” comic book variants. Jim (who appears in the comic alongside Chris) sheepishly signed the comics also but I’ll have to add Chris’ another day since he was outside with the camera guy gathering footage for the show.
In previous years, Svengoolie would be present for the entire costume contest which took place much later in the evening. To make things easier on America’s most prolific horror host, the contest is now earlier with Sven showing up at the end after the audience selected the finalists. This year the top three consisted of a zombie, one of the angry apple trees from The Wizard of Oz (1939), and Edward Scissorhands complete with a “living” topiary. It was no surprise that Edward won the top prize!
Prior to the contest, I said my ‘goodbyes’ to Svengoolie and the crew before heading back to my car. Nightmare on Chicago Street was one of only two public appearances Svengoolie would make this Halloween season. The final event was the following weekend at the Volo Auto Museum and I’ll be delving into that landmark occasion soon!
Happy Halloween!
~Dave