Scare up a frightful costume at Encore
Published 6:52 pm Thursday, October 11, 2012
Whether you need a Halloween costume for the Sixth Generation CD release party Saturday night at 8 at Orchard Hills Country Club, or want to outfit a bridal party of clowns, check out Encore School of the Arts.
Eileen Springsteen, Juliana Stanger, Jessica Rosales, Amy Klapchuk, Olivia Stanger and Emma Stanger show some of the possibilities from the Encore costume vault, which opens for fall cleaning each Halloween.
These costumes are all up to walking around again, like zombies.
The sale takes place from 5 to 8 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and Oct. 22-24.
There will also be a rack Saturday at Under the Harvest Moon Festival.
Much of the clothing was handmade by real dance moms.
Encore (269-783-0881) is located at 405 E. Division St. in the former Lincoln School.
“I know that when (former creative director) Amy Rose walked through here, she recognized things she had worn when she was in the company,” Audrey Maxey, sister of current creative director Eileen Springsteen and a former co-chairwoman of the Miss Dowagiac Scholarship Pageant, said Thursday.
“I started 20 years ago,” Eileen said. “I could tell a story about every single costume we wore.”
And if Halloween dress-up bores you, there are board games.
Encore came across a case of Dowagiacopoly 2000, a localized version of Monopoly from the new millennium. Whether you missed it the first time or wore the game out, a brand-new still in plastic can be yours for a dollar.
Fundraising is a fall focus, from baked goods to braided bread.
“The first competition this season we’re going to is Feb. 15 in Chicago,” Springsteen said. “I took over right after the spring show, so the first competition I took them to was in May.”
