THE SELMA TIMES-JOURNAL

It’s gonna get scary in Selma this Monday, but not because it’s Halloween.

The monsters are coming to town.

This year’s Monster March starts at 3 p.m. at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library. Sponsored by the Downtown Selma Association in conjunction with the library and the Larry D. Striplin, Jr. Performing Arts Centre, the Monster March has become a Selma staple.

Children will enter the library and emerge as ghosts, pumpkins, witches and scarecrows thanks to face painting provided by library director Becky Nichols and volunteers.

The march will begin at 4 p.m. down Broad Street with Sparky, the firedog, as the grand marshal. Merchants will hand out treats, unless they want to be tricked by the crowd of monsters coming their way.

WDXX Dixie 100 will provide the spooky tunes as the monsters invade downtown Selma.

The march will continue toward the Edmund Pettus Bridge, back down Broad Street and conclude at the Performing Arts Centre where a costume contest will take place for children up to 12 years old.

The winner will receive the Miss Kitty Windham Award and $25 cash for originality in costume. For those who do not win the grand prize, goody bags will be handed out to all contest participants.

Shebra Kidd, director of the Downtown Selma Association, has worked on the Monster March for five years and says it has been a Selma tradition for 20 years. Sixty to 70 children participate each year. Kidd believes Halloween wouldn’t be Halloween in Selma without the Monster March

&8220;It’s an original and it’s a lot of fun,&8221; she said.