Walker Evans is one of our city’s biggest fans so it’s no surprise to find him front and center on our HighBall planning committee. Besides serving on the North Market Development Authority Board of Trustees, the Create Columbus Commission, the Columbus Chamber of Commerce and the Columbus Metropolitan Club, Walker is the founder of Columbus Underground, the virtual community of the movers and shakers in Columbus. Walker is wearing several HighBall hats: Marketing Committee, Online Promotions and Volunteer Recruitment.

What’s your favorite kind of Halloween candy?

Anything sweet.

Least favorite Halloween candy?

Those unidentifiable chewy things wrapped in orange or black wax paper.

What was your best ever Halloween costume?

I loved going as Mario when I was a kid.

Are there any celebrity costumes you don’t want to see?

Sexy Sarah Palin Outfit

What part of the HighBall are you most excited about and why?

I’m looking forward to the party-in-the-street ambiance that you can’t find at any other Columbus Festival

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…