Goblins show off their generosity </MCC HEAD>

Story last updated at 7:54 PM on Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Goblins show off their generosity

What's a little biting cold among ghouls? Or vampires? Or any number of scary critters haunting the hull of USCGC Hickory Friday evening?

The popular event began with a "lite fright" from 4-6 p.m. for youngsters and those more easily frightened. From 6:30-11 p.m., however, the lights dimmed, the chainsaws cranked up, the eery organ music played and screams echoed across Kachemak Bay as the Haunted Hickory lived up to its reputation for being the place to celebrate Halloween.

disguised members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary gathered food donations for the Homer Community Food Pantry.

More than 3,000 guests, many of them also in costumes, braved temperatures dipping down into the 20s, backed by an icy wind gusting from the north. Some stood in line for more than an hour, huddled around warming fires in 55-gallon barrels, just for the thrill of being frightened.

The event also was a fundraiser for the Homer Community Food Pantry, with donated food items sorted and boxed for delivery to the pantry by members of the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary.

The annual event, created by U.S. Coast Guard crews stationed aboard the USCGC Hickory and the USCGC Roanoke Island, draws visitors from the peninsula and even a few from Anchorage who can't resist a good scare.

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