Downtown Frostproof Gets Spoopy For 4th Annual Fall Street Dance
by James Coulter
Downtown Frostproof celebrated Halloween with plenty of spoopy fun during its 4th annual fall street dance on Saturday evening. Several hundred attendees of all ages, many dressed in their Halloween best, congregated along East Wall Street to enjoy live music, food trucks, and other fun activities.
Several dozen food trucks and local vendors lined the street while the stage provided live music and entertainment for attendees to dance along to. The event started at 6:30 p.m., around the time city trick-or-treating was still in effect, so plenty of trick-or-treaters and their families attended. Many of them even participated in a costume contest later that evening.
The street dance coincided with many other Halloween events occurring at that time. Mister Chris’ Coffee Gallery & Depot hosted a trunk or treat and car show at Freedom Station Park, while the American Legion hosted a haunted house.
With so many other Halloween festivities occurring during that time, many people in costumes came to Downtown Frostpoofduring the street dance, which drew in more attendees than previous events, said Vice Mayor Austin Gravely.
“It is already a record-breaker, and it hasn’t even gotten started yet,” he said near the start of the event that evening when several hundred attendees crowded East Wall Street outside of the Ramon Theater.
Tristan Tritt, a famed musician, related to the county legend Travis Tritt, performed live musical entertainment. While his father plays country, Tristan prefers to play alternate rock, offering more lively and energetic music to dance to.
Tristan was invited personally by Gravely, who even traveled to the musician’s town of Traverses to watch him perform. Tristan did not disappoint, as his tunes helped liven up the already lively atmosphere of dancing, beer-drinking, and overall good time-having, he said.
“I really want to get the point across of the message of bringing people together and getting over this pandemic and just enjoy this moment,” he said. “They have taken real good care of us. We are super excited to play for these lovely folks here. It is a small town, similar to the town I was brought up in, so it is like being at home.”
For the past four years, the City of Frostproof has been hosting the bi-annual street dance during Valentine’s Day and in the fall. Even during the height of the pandemic last year, the city never canceled an event, allowing locals and visitors alike a safe, fun environment to come together and have a good time despite these uncertain times.
“I want to see all of the people having a good time,” Gravely said. “Everyone is happy. Especially after last year. Even though Frostproof never canceled anything, people are glad to be out and enjoy the evening.”
Many local organizations participated for the sake of fundraising. The Frostproof High Boosters Club sold hot dogs and boiled peanuts to raise money for the Frostproof High School Band.
Drew Pepkowski, Treasurer of FP Band Boosters, appropriately enough, dressed up as a hot dog. He has been attending such an event with the Boosters Club to raise funds for their cause, but also to enjoy the event with others.
“It has been nice and steady,” he said. “It feels good and great. Everyone is having a lot of fun and enjoying it…We are doing well for our first time being here, not knowing what we were walking into or expecting, but we seem to be doing well crowd-wise.”
The next Frostproof Street Dance will be hosted next year on Valentine’s Day. Their next and biggest event will be their upcoming Christmas Parade. For more information, visit their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/cityoffrostproof
