Neewollah returns to Roseburg after 90 years

ROSEBURG, Ore. – The community is invited for a spooky night when Neewollah takes over downtown Roseburg this Halloween -- just as it first did 90 years ago.

The beloved costume parade began as a Roseburg tradition on Oct. 31, 1933, and -- according to local residents, historians and newspaper articles -- has been held every year since, except during WWII and in 2020 and 2021 during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic, when virtual “parades” and costume contests were held instead. Neewollah arose from its seeming demise last year to help celebrate Roseburg’s Sesquicentennial, or 150^th birthday, on Oct. 3, 2022.

This Halloween promises many an eerie sight when costumed little tricksters descend on downtown. Businesses and the City of Roseburg will give out plenty of candy and dancing flash mobs will thrill crowds, while Captain Jack Sparrow and the Black Pearl pirate ship bring a shadowy fantasy to life.

This year, Douglas Avenue will be open to traffic and there won’t be a group photo on the courthouse steps. Trick-or-treaters will gather at 5 p.m. outside Dino’s Ristorante Italiano, near the corner of Jackson Street and Douglas Avenue, and begin parading up Jackson Street at about 5:15 p.m., said event organizer Stacey Crowe, a former City Councilor.

The City, which waived parade and barricade fees, will give out candy from a black tent on Jackson Street across from City Hall. Umpqua Community College baseball team players will set up barricades and also hand out candy, Crowe added.

Architect Paul Bentley will turn into “Captain Jack Sparrow” from the “Pirates of the Caribbean” -- wearing a dreadlock wig, pirate garb, rings on each finger and a flintlock pistol. His “pirate wench” wife Terry and other friendly pirates will join him on the Black Pearl, a 20-foot wooden ship façade that will boast a plank this year.

“We don’t know who’s going to walk the plank yet, or if it’s going to be able to handle a person walking on it – it might just be a skeleton,” Bentley said by phone.

The Roseburg Area Dancing Witches have been practicing moves to German singer Peter Fox’s “Schüttel Deinen Speck,” or “Shake Your Bacon,” said organizer Sonja Ingeroi, a Roseburg dancer. The broomstick-carrying witches may also dance to the Rocky Horror Picture Show’s “Time Warp” and perform a trendy dance from the Netflix series “Wednesday” to the song “Goo Goo Muck,” performed in 1962 by Ronnie Cook and The Gaylads, then covered in 1981 by The Cramps.

Dancers dress to suit their “witchy” personalities, with many in traditional black. Fourteen have practiced this fall, but some will volunteer for “scare duty” at Roseburg Fright Club’s haunted house inside Roseburg Elks Lodge, waiting at the end of Jackson Street. Yet a few extra witches always seem to mysteriously join the street performance, Ingeroi said.

“I’m always surprised,” she added. “It’s nice to be part of the season.”