Seniors enjoy a COA Halloween treat

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By Laura Drinan
Hometown Weekly Reporter

Halloween costumes are certainly not only for trick-or-treating children. The wise seniors of Westwood’s Council on Aging know that, and proved that people of any age can join in on the celebration of costumes and candy at their annual Halloween party.

Snacking on goodie-bags as singer Tommy Rull kept the seniors entertained, the COA staff in their coordinated cowboy costumes readied a special lunch for the attendees. Tommy’s singing of old favorites even inspired some of the more festive seniors to dance as a senior dressed as Wonder Woman led a conga line.

“We’ll do a special event every month,” said the Westwood COA’s beloved director, Lina Arena-DeRosa, describing their annual Valentine’s Day party, St. Patrick’s Day party, and First Day of Spring celebration. “If there’s a reason to have a party, we do it!”

In attendance with Wonder Woman was Julius Caesar, several witches, a French maid, a rabbit, and one of DreamWorks’ Minions. Even Selectman Mike Walsh joined the celebration in costume. But for those who decided not to dress up, the party was still the perfect opportunity to enjoy the company of their fellow seniors - and a few fun-sized candies, while they were at it.

“At their age, you’ve got to stay social,” said Trish Tuck, who organizes many of the COA’s events. “We’ll have sign-ups for the party at the beginning of the month and for hours, the phones will be ringing off the hook and it’ll be filled up.”

As with all of the COA parties, the Halloween party was decorated from floor to ceiling with black and orange garland, spider webs, ghosts, and paper jack-o-lanterns. As Tommy performed, a motion sensor spider crawled up and down one of the orange garland wrapped columns.

After the seniors finished their pasta and salad lunch, Lina announced the winning ticket numbers of the Halloween raffle, with three lucky winners earning gift cards.

With the seniors feeling festive and full, Tommy performed one last song in honor of the upcoming Veterans Day: “God Bless America.”

And with that, the seniors parted ways, heading to the grocery store to pick up candy for trick-or-treaters and continue their own Halloween celebrations.