Halloween is serious business for Nancy Kouris.

The Blue Duck Bakery co-owner and longtime organizer of Greenport’s Halloween festivities has a garage packed with decorations, another dozen storage bins in her basement and a collection of skeletons, witches, ghosts and scarecrows — most of whom have names.

There’s Dolores the witch, Lester the skeleton, Frankie the scarecrow, Julie the ghost and Lenny, a particularly large skeleton who occupies the bakery hallway. And that’s just the beginning.

“I personally own eight. I think there are eight. I might have nine,” Kouris said of her skeleton collection. “I kind of keep buying them.”

This Saturday, Oct. 31, Kouris and the rest of the Greenport business community will put that enthusiasm to work as Greenport celebrates Halloween with its 14th annual costume parade, 42 participating trick-or-treat locations, a village-wide scavenger hunt, free carousel rides, spooky storytelling and a haunted train ride.

It’s one of Greenport’s most popular family-oriented celebrations of the fall, with local businesses, the Greenport Business Improvement District, Friends of Mitchell Park, the Greenport Rotary and village officials joining forces to provide a full day of activities.

Kouris, who chairs the Greenport BID’s Halloween committee, has been organizing the festivities since 2020. This year, she said, dozens of businesses are participating in the scavenger hunt, while others are offering Halloween-themed food, drinks and storefront displays.

“We have 42 trick-or-treat stations,” Kouris said, up slightly from last year.

Several businesses that hadn’t participated in previous years have joined the celebration, she said, and some establishments are offering special Halloween treats or cocktails.

A parade to kick things off

The festivities begin at 11 a.m. Saturday, when costumed children and families gather at Floyd Memorial Library, 539 First St., for the Village Halloween parade.

The parade steps off at 11:30 a.m. and will feature the North Fork Academy of Dance.

Beginning at 11:45 a.m., the Friends of Mitchell Park will sponsor free carousel rides for children under 12, continuing until 1:30 p.m.

Then, from noon to 3 p.m., the Greenport BID takes over much of the downtown celebration with its Halloween Village trick-or-treating program and scavenger hunt.

Businesses throughout the village will welcome trick-or-treaters, and the festivities also include the Teal Pumpkin Project, which helps identify locations offering nonfood treats for children with food allergies.

Kouris said most participating businesses are decorating their storefronts, and that a spooky Halloween scene vibe has been building throughout the village.

Spooky stories and a notorious visitor

The courtyard at Blue Duck Bakery will host two distinctly different Halloween attractions.

At noon, Miss Nina, children’s librarian at Floyd Memorial Library, will lead a spooky storytime designed for younger children.

At 1:30 p.m., the mood will turn decidedly darker with a special appearance by Lizzie Borden, the infamous Massachusetts woman accused and later acquitted of the 1892 ax murders of her father and stepmother.

An actress portraying Borden will roam the village before delivering a dramatic monologue in the bakery courtyard.

Kouris said the performance has become a popular Halloween attraction, although she said that it is not intended for very young children.

“She’s an actress, so she builds it up,” Kouris said. “And she has an axe.”

The character’s appearance is meant to entertain rather than genuinely frighten visitors, but Kouris said parents should use discretion.

Nancy Kouris photos

For families seeking a less frightening experience, the North Fork Arts Center will present a 2 p.m. matinee of the Halloween favorite Hocus Pocus at the Sapan Theater.

And the Rotary Club of Greenport will bring back its Greenport Express Halloween Spooktacular haunted train ride, operating from 4 to 9 p.m. Friday, Oct. 30, and 4 to 10 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 31 on Moores Lane.

Friday’s rides cost $9 for participants wearing costumes, while Saturday’s tickets are $10.

Nancy Kouris photos

A lifelong Halloween obsession

Kouris told the Sun that Halloween has been a personal passion since she was 12 years old.

Her love of Halloween began at age 12, when she threw a basement Halloween party for her best friend, who was moving away. She hasn’t looked back since.

Today, one entire side of her garage is devoted to Halloween decorations, with another dozen storage bins in the basement.

“A lot of times I can’t even get it all out,” she said.

For years now, Kouris has been the driving force behind the BID’s Halloween programming, personally overseeing much of the decorating and coordinating participation among downtown merchants. She also decorates Greenport’s historic jail, where one of her skeletons has been installed on the door.

The skeleton is secured with 12 magnets, she said, a precaution inspired partly by the mysterious disappearance of another member of her Halloween collection last year.

That skeleton, named Walter, had been zip-tied to a village bench across from the bakery, which drew visitors who stopped to take photographs with him.

Then Walter vanished.

His disappearance sparked a minor social media mystery. Eventually, Kouris learned that village workers had removed him. This year, she’s taking no chances.

She attached a card to the jail decoration identifying it as Blue Duck Bakery property and warning against its removal.

Kouris also has a habit of naming nearly every character in her Halloween collection, from Norman, whose head serves as a hanging planter, to the bakery’s resident witch and scarecrow.

“I think people just get so much enjoyment out of it,” she said. “It doesn’t even have to be horror. Some people do horror. I’m like fun stuff.”

A big weekend for Greenport

This year’s celebration comes on the heels of Greenport’s Maritime Festival, which occupied much of the village’s attention in mid-October.

Kouris said the festival pushed back Halloween preparations and publicity, leaving organizers scrambling to spread the word about the upcoming festivities.

“Everybody was concerned about maritime and they weren’t really thinking Halloween,” she said.

But with Halloween falling on a Saturday, Kouris is optimistic about a strong turnout.

“There’s a lot going on in the village for the kids this weekend,” she said.