Happy Hallowthanksmas

Benton Boomland 10-31-2014Mother, Curator Jessica and I had a productive day roaming around southern Illinois and Southeast Missouri. With the late afternoon sun taking a dive to nap time, we decided to head home from Cairo by way of Charleston so my Ohio curator friend could see some of the buildings there.

This would be a good time for me to knock off Boomland, I told my passengers. I’d never been there, but it seems like it would be the kind of place a lot of my readers would enjoy.

We missed the Charleston store, but the signs said we would find another one at the Benton exit. I had to explain to Jessica about the Benton Hills.

Halloween and Thanksgiving

Benton Boomland 10-31-2014What I took to be a Halloween pumpkin and some corn, which might symbolize, Thanksgiving were by the front door.

Christmas trees on Halloween night?

Benton Boomland 10-31-2014In at least two display windows were Christmas trees. Christmas trees!!!

On HALLOWEEN night.

I don’t want to say this is rushing the season, but I was always taught that it was good etiquette to wait until the corpse got cold before asking the widow to dance.

P.S. I didn’t coin the phrase “Happy Hallowthanksmas;” someone else did, and Wife Lila passed it on to me.

P.P.S. Boomland is a fireworks joint at heart, so I won’t blame them for rushing the 4th of July.

3 Replies to “Happy Hallowthanksmas”

  1. They don’t have to wait until the Fourth of July for fireworks. Down here in the Real South, fireworks are a big part of Christmas and New Year. Besides, we woke up to snow this morning so it won’t be long before the lights and tree go up.

  2. I have spent quite a bit of money at Boomland. We have always had a family reunion over July 4. My brother in-law always said our family reunion was like having a picnic at the artillery range–and it was! I have year after year pictures of my son on the porch barely visible with all his artillery surrounding him. every year was the same. At about 10 PM the kids gave up from the all day barrage, and usually with leftovers. Unfortunately, we had to sell the place at the “Branch”, Rumbranch MO to be exact. So now, we all trek to Birch Tree Mo where fireworks are banned. My girl cousin from West Hollywood bought about 7 or 8 “big ones” at Boomland this past summer & a caravan of cousins with all different states license plates drove around to find a spot to set them off. A short display at an abandoned gas station is a poor substitute for an all day fireworks fix, but at least we got some nostalgia, big noise & sparks and we did not get arrested! Stephen, if you can find a location near Birch Tree for a group of mostly responsible adults to set off fireworks, it will be worth it to Boomland business wise.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *