Preparing for Halloween on St. Armands Circle

St. Armands Circle transformed from suave to spooky on Monday to prepare for its annual Fright Night. The classic statues that call the circle home were noticeably out of costume. But some merchants were dressed up and decorating their storefronts, all while trying not to eat too much candy. 

“I’ve bought a couple bags, but I’ve only eaten two pieces so far,” Just/Because owner Barbara Pugliese said. “No matter how much I buy, I always run out.” 

Pugliese decked her gift shop to the fright night nines. Eyeballs accented the display window and a skull wreath hung on the door. With spider lights hanging overhead, it was perfectly creepy. 

Pugliese’s “couple bags” of candy equated to about 400 pieces, but she doesn’t own a candy shop. Kilwins had 10 boxes set aside, each filled with 500 miniature candy bars in a variety of milk, white and dark chocolate. 

The confection shop has also run out of candy on Fright Night, but they just grab it off the shelves. They’re certainly not turning anyone away on Halloween. 

“We just grab random things. How are we a candy shop, and we don’t have candy on Halloween,” laughed Vanessa Hunter as she dipped a pretzel stick into melted white chocolate. 

Kilwins wasn’t sweating the demand, but owner of Le Macaron Veronique Moussier spent $300 and said it still won’t be enough. 

“It’s a circle,” she said. “The kids come around many times.” 

One thing Moussier didn’t have to buy this year was another costume. Each year, she took great care to decorate one of the statues. A tradition formed through the St. Armands Circle Association; the merchants were responsible for those classic statues wearing capes. 

But after a vandals were stealing fingers and a reckless climber knocked over the Music statue in January, the association decided to leave them all bare this year. 

“Basically, there was some concern about setting a bad example,” executive director Rachel Burns said. “We want to show the statues the proper respect.”

Especially after an anonymous donor gave $25,000 to a fund set up through the Community Foundation of Sarasota County to repair the one that was left lying on the ground headless with two broken arms. 

Because it is such a fond, longstanding tradition, one lone statue at the entrance to the circle donned a black cape and steampunk bird mask, but the costumer responsible went rogue and remains anonymous.