It’s a little early in the morning, oh ’bout 2:30AM, and I’m sorting thru the images for tonight’s HighBall Halloween event launch. It was a great day with all the pieces coming together in grand style. I have to say this is one of the most creative, talented and just downright fun teams I’ve had the privilege to work with. This is not going to be your basic slasher, frightmare Halloween. HighBall is going to absolutely pulse with creativity, self-experession and energy. Plan to be talking about this one for months.

Today (hmmm… technically yesterday now), we had our final committee meeting before the launch. The ideas were flying. It was as if hundreds of seeds had been planted over the last month and now all of a sudden they had really taken root and all these definitive concepts were ready to be harvested. The whole story will come out tonight, but here are a few details that are just downright fun…

Mark Moorehead and his team at Moorehead Design nailed the image for the event with a slammin’ logo and absolutely hot array of images. When you see the pics, you’ll get the idea.

We’ve decided to close High Street from Buttles to Hubbard. Thanks to Paul Liu’s amazing zeal for experiential happenings, we’re tapping into Haiku’s parking lot at the north end to stage live bands throughout the evening. At the south end of the strip, we’ll be offering up a fun-as-hell dance scene with a couple of Columbus’ hottest DJ’s… starting with DJ Moxy.

The costume scene is getting a real kickstart. We’ve already signed on two rockin’ fashion designers to begin creating original works of art for a runway scene. Welcome aboard Kelli and Esther. Our goal is to have a dozen Columbus designers really show their stuff.

More details tonight, including the Dogtober Howloween Procession, announcements about the costume contest and new of a certain national Entertainer of the Year lending a hand. See ya at Skully’s. 5:30P.

Now that Art al Fresco has made a successful debut, the Short North is turning its focus to the next big thing… HighBall Halloween: A Masquerade Party on High Street. On Wednesday, Sept. 10 we’ll unveil the full details during the event launch at Skully’s Music Diner, but right now the development committee is debating some of the key aspects. Charly Bauer (Jeni’s Ice Creams) wants to see “fabulous” costumes at every turn and an outrageous diva-emcee like Nina West. Dawn Friedman agrees that the “wow factor” should be off the chart if it’s going to be worthy of Short North status, but thinks there has to be a twist to the event. Ryan Morgan thinks inviting Columbus’ couture fashion designers to create original costumes for a Project Runway-style fashion showdown would get juices flowing. Walker Evans wants to see high-profile prizes for the best, most creative, and most outrageous costumes. The next meeting, tomorrow afternoon, will iron out the details.

There are also many logistics questions to answer by Wednesday. What part of High Street will we close for the masquerade? Should we have bands or DJs? Dancing or parades? Beer or wine!? Who gets to be the Joker!?

More to come…