Westmont, Illinois - Date Issued: October 25, 2022
On Saturday, October 22, the Wicked West Fest events in downtown Westmont including the Trick-or-Treat Trail, Costume Contest, Pumpkin Smash Extravaganza, Casket Races, and more had a record attendance. Following are results from this year’s contests:
WICKED WEST FEST COSTUME CONTEST
Hosted by the Westmont Special Events Corporation, this year’s costume contest had a record number of participants with more than 200 costumed people and pets. There were a total of six contest categories including the family group category consisting of 83 participants representing 23 entries. All of the costumes were wonderful and everyone received a Wicked West Fest Costume Contest Ribbon. Additional awards were presented to the top 3 entries in each category, as follows:
Newborns & 1 Year Olds
- 1st Place - Aidan as one of the Lollipop Guild
- 2nd Place - Penelope as an Alligator
- 3rd Place - Ellia as BSTANG Fox Wolf
2-5 Year Olds
- 1st Place - Rocky as Elvis
- 2nd Place - Maddie as the Corpse Bride
- 3rd Place - Zachariah as Harry Potter
6-9 Year Olds
- 1st Place - Isaak as Pennywise
- 2nd Place - Lola as a Firefighter in a Fire Truck
- 3rd Place - Romero as the Transformer Optimus Prime
10-13 Year Olds
- 1st Place - Rayne as Winnefred from Hocus Pocus
- 2nd Place - Nanda as a Green Witch
- 3rd Place - Maddie as the Wicked Witch of the West
14 & Up
- 1st Place - Deb as a Retired Postal Worker with her New Replacement
- 2nd Place - Sophie as Venkman from Ghostbusters
- 3rd Place - Sunny as Marshmallo
Group/Family Category
- 1st Place - The Chorney Family as the cast of Wizard of Oz
- 2nd Place - The Lacy Family as characters from the Gingerbread Man story
- 3rd Place - The Nowak Family as the Gnome Family
PUMPKIN SMASH EXTRAVAGANZA RESULTS
The goal of the Pumpkin Smash Extravaganza, which is coordinated by the Westmont Environmental Improvement Committee, is to promote pumpkin composting opportunities after Halloween is over. This year’s Pumpkin Composting event will take place on Saturday, November 5, 9 a.m. to noon at the Westmont Library, 428 N. Cass. Make sure your pumpkin is free of decorations and inorganic material, then drop off your pumpkin so that it can be composted.
For the Pumpkin Smash Contest, representatives from community organizations brought their decorated pumpkins to the event and were then lifted 20 feet up in the air in a Westmont Public Works bucket truck from where they threw their pumpkin at a target below. Contestants were judged on several criteria: Pumpkin decorations, closeness to target, distance of pumpkin splatter, and splatter quality based on creative materials put inside the pumpkin to accentuate the mess created after impact. Following are this year’s results:
PLACE - COMPETITOR NAME - ORGANIZATION
- 2022 PUMPKIN SMASH SUPERSTAR - TJ Riley - Westmont Public Works
- 2022 PUMPKIN SMASH PHENOMENON - Jenny Babyar - Citizen of the Year
- 2nd Place - Larry McIntyre - Village of Westmont Communications
- 3rd Place - Steve Fleck - Downtown Business
- 4th Place - Officer Robert Arndt - Westmont Police Department
- 5th Place (tie) - Danielle Jamil - Maercker District 60 PTA
- 5th Place (tie) - Heather Booth - Westmont Public Library
- 6th Place - Greg Boltz - Downers Grove Township
- 7th Place (tie) - Steve Golembiewski - Westmont Special Events Corporation (WSEC)
- 7th Place (tie) - Jason Pecard - Westmont Youth Baseball Association (WYBA)
- 8th Place (tie) - Bruce Barker - Westmont Environmental Improvement Committee
- 8th Place (tie) - Damian Sill - Westmont Finance Department
- 9th Place - Madeline Lubeck - Creative Arts Network
- 10th Place - Allison Clemens - Westmont Chamber of Commerce
- 11th Place - Kimberly Bell - Illinois Food Scrap Coalition
- 12th Place (tie) - Tom Smith - Westmont Historical Society
- 12th Place (tie) - Emmerence Kaiser - Westmont Finance Department
- 12th Place (tie) - Adina Hoover - CUSD201
- 13th Place - Steve Nero - Westmont Village Board
- 14th Place - Amylee Hogan-Simonovich - Westmont Village Board
- 15th Place - Maddie M. - Make-A-Wish Foundation
- 16th Place - Mason Michon - Westmont Community Development Department
CASKETS ON CASS RACE RESULTS
This year’s Casket Races, hosted by the Westmont Chamber of Commerce, featured a rematch of last year’s race - Dynamic Perception Dance Company and Westmont Public Works. It was a close race, but Westmont Public Works took top honors. In a show of good sportsmanship, the Public Works team donated their gift certificate awards to Dynamic Perception.
Thank you to all of the volunteers and staff who coordinated this fun day of family entertainment. Photos from all of these events can be found on the Westmont Special Events/Stanley Jamburger Facebook page and the Village of Westmont Photo Gallery. Thank you to everyone who participated in this year’s event.
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