Known throughout the city as one of the most elaborate costume parties in town, HighBall Halloween is returning to the Short North Arts District this Saturday, from 2 p.m. to midnight.
According to their website, this year’s events will feature hosts drag queen Nina West and NBC4’s Matt Barnes and Monica Day, performances by Parker Lousie & Friends, Anna and the Annadroids, MojoFlo and more, designs from six local fashion designers as part of the Costume Couture Fashion Show, a chance to win cash prizes during the Public Costume Contest and more.
To get a better idea of the true focus of HighBall Halloween, Scarlette Magazine spoke to Betsy Pandora, executive director of the Short North Alliance.
Pandora said she has continued to run HighBall Halloween all of these years because it provides a unique platform for Columbus designers to showcase their style.
“HighBall Halloween allows for [designers] to stretch themselves creatively,” Pandora said. “They get to try things on the HighBall stage that they don't have another place to try anywhere else in all of Columbus, and that's what really makes it special.”
Pandora said she hopes to expand HighBall Halloween in the future, highlighting its uniqueness as an experience exclusive to the Short North neighborhood.
“The extent to which we can continue to expand the amount of people that Highball touches and the amount of artists that get to have opportunities within it is what really matters to us,” Pandora said.
Pandora said each year she looks forward to seeing how people fill the streets with unique outfits and draw inspiration from one another.
“I've been doing Highball for so very long, I have so many memories,” Pandora said. “And, you know, what I would say is they really do all wash together into a feeling that there is absolutely nothing else like this across Central Ohio.”
Shiree Houf, one of the designers for this year’s event, said her love for designing stemmed from a costume contest at Ohio State that she participated in as a part of her master’s degree program.
“I had so much fun doing that, and I got to come back in a future year to team up with a fashion designer,” Houf said.
Houf said she has a background in theater and costume design, which drove her to create her designs from stories. She said most of the time, her inspiration comes from characters — whether from fairy tales, historical figures or ones she invents when listening to a song or viewing a painting. She said she often envisions an artist and designs a look that reflects the essence of the artwork.
“My main costume was Starry Night and Van Gogh, so, it was big, and all of it had big painted elements into it,” Houf said. “So, I had like brush strokes on each of those. And Starry Night was just a giant canvas of a dress to create. But art in all of its many forms inspires me.”
Houf said she often incorporates unconventional materials into her work, a technique she plans to bring to her designs for HighBall Halloween.
“One year I used a bunch of wires and broken computer bits,” Houf said. “Another year I've used all men's neckties. So, this year I can say I'm using a bunch of dish towels and tablecloths and placemats and those types of things to create this collection.”
HighBall Halloween has artists and designers from all over Ohio, sourcing talents to create avant-garde costumes and pieces that mix creativity and culture into a celebration of fashion and the Halloween spirit.
Five other local designers will be participating in this contest, including Gerardo Encinas, Joan Madison, duo Rachel Katz and Shelly Teed, Storm Dolfi and Xantha Ward.
For more information about HighBall Halloween regarding ticketing or other questions, visit the event’s website.
