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Active Life hosted its annual Halloween contest yesterday with sixteen members competing to win four categories: most unique, most creative, funniest, and best dressed. To compete, members were interviewed in character and then did a short parade through the room to the tune of Monster Mash.

Dan Wooten, the emcee and organizer of the event, started the contest over twenty years ago when he first came to Active Life. He said that this event has been a favorite of many of the members.

“There are certain ones that are just like Nancy Purdue, she starts thinking about a year before. She’s the pasta, the bow tie pasta,” said Wooten. “But several of them like that are thinking already, ‘Okay, what next year will I be?’ Some of the really fanatics that love (it).”

Nancy Purdue won this year for ‘Most Unique’ and was dressed as a giant bowtie pasta with pasta throughout her hair. Purdue has handmade all of her own costumes since she started competing in 2005.

“The first year that I did this, I came as a sumo wrestler. This was in 2005 and they said, ‘Oh my goodness’,” Purdue said. “But I’ve come as a kissing booth and all of this other kind of stuff.”

Ruby Parker won the category of ‘Most Creative’ for her costume as super grandma. In her interview with Wooten she said that her life inspired her costume this year.

“I have three children, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren and I have another one on the way and they are naming her after me in March,” said Parker.

Buddy Levy won first for ‘Funniest’ costume with his new year’s baby costume and ‘Best Dressed’ went to Faye Newton who was dressed up as a flapper. Runner ups were Valerie Cofield as a clown for ‘Most Unique’, Barbara Hudson as Dr. Doolittle Scrapbooking for ‘Most Creative’, Roger Sledge as a grumpy old man for ‘Funniest’, and Derek Wilson as an army man for ‘Best Dressed’.