Eternal Scout from
“Welcome to Night Vale”
Putting together a costume with a visual
can be hard enough, and creating
a costume just based on vocal description
seems unimaginable. But for Astoria
resident Hannah Berry, the challenge to
make an Eternal Scout costume from the
podcast “Welcome to Night Vale” was
worth it.
“I chose the costume because I am a
big fan of the podcast, and I thought that
episode was one of the best. I was really
proud of it; I like having very small, niche
costumes that are well executed. It was
also my first time wearing costume contacts
which was really fun,” Berry said.
Just in case you need a little background
info about this niche reference,
the thrilling podcast began in 2012 and
is about the events that happen in the fictional
town of Night Vale.
“Not many people knew exactly who I
was, but that was OK. I think one person
across the two days I wore the costume
recognized it, and they thought it was
awesome. Most people were like, ‘Cool
dead Girl Scout costume!’ I worked a
waitressing shift in costume on Halloween
and a lot of my tables were really freaked
out by the white eye. A few people asked
me if it was real,” Berry said.
A large portion of Berry’s scout costume
was sewed, while many of her pieces
either came straight from her closet or
online.
“The preparation was not too bad — I
had the shirt and tights. I ordered a skirt,
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and borrowed a beret from a friend. I
went out to a local costume shop to get
whiteout contacts. The hardest part was
the sash: I sewed it together myself, and
bought and sewed the patches on. I’m an
OK seamstress, so it took about a week,
and I had to start over a couple times, but
it ended up working great,” Berry said.
For two years, Berry has had a picture of the
costume on her Tinder profile to see if anyone
recognizes the character and only two people
told her they knew what her costume is. Who
knew listening to a mystery-thriller podcasts
could win you points on a dating app?
Bob Ross and His Painting
Astoria resident Kim Petrone and her
husband Anthony decided to go as Bob
Ross and his painting because they went
through a phase of watching the zen
painter on Netflix to relax.
“We always march in the Village parade
and always pick something that
means something to us personally so we
can really dive in and have fun with it,”
Petrone said.
While the entire costume required an
intricate attention to detail, the easel took
about three days to get right. Petrone had
to find a way it could hold the painting
and allow them to walk comfortably.
“My costume started with four large
document holders that I cut and fashioned
together with soft rope both behind
my head to rest atop my shoulders
and around my lower back in order to carry
and hold the ‘easel’ legs in place when
walking in the parade,” Petrone said. “I
then ordered an actual Bob Ross painting
and pasted it to a sturdy cardboard backing
and then affixed it to each of the two
‘easel poles.’
“Once I lined it all up and all the paste
dried, I cut a hole for my face and then
added the easel shelf that consisted of
actual Bob Ross paint and brush from
his website and a small Bob Ross purse
I got from Etsy. On the day of Halloween
I put it on and tried my best freehand to
paint my face in a way that blended into
the painting with regular Halloween face
paint you can purchase in CVS.”
The actual Bob Ross costume was store
bought and the clothes were Anthony’s.
He used the fake belly he had from previous
costumes that the couple kept for
future use.
HALLOWEEN
Photos courtesy of Hannah Berry
Photos courtesy of Kim Petrone