According to Cajun folk legend, the Fifolet is a mischievous spirit. Embodied in a tongue of blue flame, it taunts wayward travelers with the promise of riches hidden deep in the Louisiana swamp. It’s a promise that, according to the legend, has led many such travelers to their doom.
But, for the founding members of Baton Rouge’s 10/31 Consortium, a Halloween-centric nonprofit that puts on the yearly Fifolet Halloween Festival, the treasure augured by the blue flame doesn’t come at such a high cost.
“We’ll tell people you can find your treasure at the Halloween festival,” says consortium founder, president and CEO Corey Toullier. He’s referring more to costumes and candy than cursed riches, “because there really is something for everyone, from kids to families.”
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This year, the multi-day event kicks off Oct. 27, beginning with a pub crawl, followed by the costume ball, the Fifolet 5K, arts market, parade, and finally the awards ceremony on the night before Halloween—which, among other things, honors some of the best costumes from the preceding events.
And, with this being the first time these festivities have returned in full force since COVID, all the founders agree they’re looking at this year’s festival as an opportunity to throw some fuel on the Fifolet flame.
“We’re hoping that the crowds come out, that it’s the biggest and best ever, because we haven’t had these events in two years,” Tullier says.
The 10/31 Consortium originally materialized in 2010 as a vehicle for organizing what many now consider the Fifolet Festival’s crown jewel: the Halloween parade, which rolls in downtown Baton Rouge. Tullier and consortium co-founders Jamie Schexnayder and Kelley Stein say their only firm goal when they founded the organization was to have that parade, with the nonprofit acting as a framework through which to organize it.
“A parade is for the community,” Stein says. “Especially with Halloween being a kids’ holiday, it was important to the three of us that this was something that had a community focus.”
But as the young 10/31 Consortium took its first steps, the founders say they quickly realized Halloween in Baton Rouge needed some help.
“One thing we identified was (that) trick-or-treat was kind of dying in the inner city,” Tullier says. “It’s unsafe in some areas, (families) need security, they need funds. … So we really wanted to revitalize trick-or-treat in some areas of the city.”
That’s what sparked the consortium’s programs like “Trick or Treat Assistance,” which helps neighborhoods foster safe Halloween celebrations for local children, and the “Costume and Candy Drive,” which collects donations of costumes and Halloween candy for children from families who may not otherwise be able to afford them.
But, close to the nonprofit’s heart as children may be, “adults like Halloween, too,” Schexnayder says.
That’s why it organized a six-pronged Halloween festival—to offer that something-for-everyone Halloween “treasure.”
2022 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Thursday, Oct. 27, at 7 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 28, at 8 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 29, at 8 a.m.
Saturday, Oct. 29, at 8 a.m.
Saturday, Oct. 29, at 4 p.m.
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Sunday, Oct. 30, at 10 a.m.
This article was originally published in the October 2022 issue of 225 magazine.