Six-hundred lucky people are trooping to the Fullersburg Woods Forest Preserve in Oak Brook this weekend for the annual Halloween Walk.
”We can only accommodate a limited number,” said naturalist Tom Pray,
”even though we run it for three nights; so we run a reservations lottery to give everyone a chance.”
What started 15 years ago as a modest after-dark nature walk has mushroomed into a sell-out production, complete with props and special lighting effects. Pray said his staff still emphasizes wildlife education, but they do it with style.
Karen Ditch, secretary at the Visitors` Center at Fullersburg, said, ”We don`t do a haunted house kind of thing, but ours is definitely eerie.”
Ditch knows; she designed the costumes for staffers who portray various characters on the walk. They range from the Phantom of the Opera to the Oz-like Keeper of the Legend.
Ditch`s boss, naturalist Pray, plays a less exotic role.
”Tom will be Cicada Cyd,” said Ditch, showing off a shiny brown insect- body costume with a red-eyed helmet. ”He will be sitting alone at a candlelit table for two, waiting for a mate for 17 years.”
