Alachua ‒ It’s not Mardi Gras season, but visitors to downtown Alachua may think otherwise. For the past 15 years, the Alachua Chamber of Commerce has sponsored Scarecrow Row along Alachua’s Main Street in celebration of Halloween and the fall season. Each year, Scarecrow Row has a theme and scarecrows carry out that theme through use of colorfully decorated costumes, props and whatever the imagination can create. This year, it’s Mardi Gras in October as Scarecrow Row pays tribute to the famous New Orleans celebration.

Each business on Main Street has the opportunity to decorate one of the light pole locations on Main Street with a scarecrow they create. They can also partner with a local corporate business sponsor such as grocery stores, realtors, banks and distribution centers. While not all Main Street businesses have a scarecrow, most decorate their display windows to reflect the season.

Businesses not located on Main Street can either partner with a Main Street business or purchase their own pole, which also includes their business name on the banner at each end of Main Street. The money raised goes toward programs and events hosted by the Alachua Chamber of Commerce to help promote business on Main Street and provide services and facilities to the community, including events like Trick or Treat on Main Street and the Christmas Parade. Funds raised by the Chamber of Commerce have also been used to make improvements at Alachua's Hal Brady Recreation Center as well as other projects.

Scarecrow Row is an on-going event throughout the entire month of October. People can walk the street and see a wide variety of hand created scarecrows decked out in the Mardi Gras theme. Some are funny, some are spooky, some are simple, some are extensive, but all are creative. Each participating business has designed and constructed their own display that is entered into the Scarecrow Row contest that will be judged. Prizes, as well as plaques, will be presented for first, second, and third place winners.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ The COVID- 19 Pandemic has had a huge impact on the performing arts, as it has throughout all of the arts and entertainment industry. Due to physical distancing requirements, limited occupancy and closure of physical venues, which has halted not only public performances but rehearsals as well, there are few live performances to enjoy.

Live musical performances in indoor spaces have all been canceled. Millions of musicians are affected by club, wedding, birthday, and numerous corporate events that have been canceled or postponed until 2021. All Broadway theatres in New York have been closed until January 2021. Many movie theaters, including the Priest Theater in High Springs and Regal Cinemas in Gainesville have shut down since there are few new movies being produced, and limited seating capacity has made it unprofitable to stay open.

For the Priest Theater, the closure is permanent. One of the oldest movie houses in Florida, the Priest Theater was built around 1910 by W.J. Priest, who owned the Ford dealership in High Springs. It was originally used for Vaudeville shows, but transitioned to silent films before becoming a movie theater. Regal Cinemas movie theaters across the nation, including Gainesville’s three theaters, located at Butler Town Center, Regal Royal Park and Regal Celebration Pointe, have temporally shut down less than seven weeks after they reopened for the first time since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. They are the only theaters to offer first-run movies in Gainesville.

For live theater in the area, the situation is just as grim. Gainesville Community Playhouse is postponing upcoming productions and the Hippodrome Theater in Gainesville plans to stream its next event online. The Performing Arts Center at the University of Florida has canceled all shows until this month, and those are still subject to cancellation, and are limiting new shows to two a month. Live performance of music and theater gives people a chance to enjoy the arts, be entertained and forget about their problems for a few hours.

There is only one theater in the area that is performing live shows, and that is the High Springs Playhouse.

The High Springs Playhouse (HSP) was founded as a community theater 27 years ago, using local actors and directors. They have been at its current location, an old church, for 20 years. For those 27 years, the community theater has produced an average of six shows a year. “We have a board comprised of staff, directors and actors that help us pick the shows and always welcomes suggestions from our audience,” said Julie Macklin, President of the HSP board. “Demographically our audience tends to be older or families, so we gear our shows to that and try to stay family friendly. We have found the audience really likes comedies, so that is what many of our shows are.”

The theater was shut down by the pandemic for about two months. That time was used to renovate, clean and repair the theater. They also put in a new air conditioning system to help distribute the air better. “We clean everything between shows,” Macklin added.

“As much as the director and actors want to put on a show, the audience wants it, too. People are excited to get out of the house and do something,” Macklin said.

HSP opened during phase 1in July with “Ann of Green Gables” at 25 percent capacity. “We are now in Phase 3 of the Governor's plan, which allows for total capacity and no mask requirement, but we want to be responsible and protect our audience,” said Macklin. They remain at 75 percent capacity and ask everyone to wear masks.

Dracula is currently showing with an adaptation of Bram Stoker’s classic thriller set in the French Quarter of New Orleans at the beginning of the jazz age. It begins with a European count moving into a dilapidated mansion behind Dr. Seward’s family home. The entire Seward family and spouses live at the house and soon become entangled with Dracula as one after another becomes a victim or unwilling helper to the count.

Maid Pipi Laveaux, played by Renna Tenbroeck, steals several scenes with her Cajun accent and voodoo rituals, while Mina Harker, played by Mollie Lassiter, Lucy Weston played by Angelica Miller, and Aunt Quincy played by Taegan Reiter, fall under the dashing Count Alucard's spell. Mrs. Renfield, played by Skyeler Montgomery, is harder for the Count to tame and knows his secrets but is too terrified to tell. Count Alucard, played by Griffin Green in his debut performance on the stage, plays his role well, regally entering, sometimes seemingly from nowhere, dressed in black, complete with a cape.

Dr. Seward calls on one of his respected medical colleagues, Dr. Abraham Van Helsing, played by Miguel Miranda for help. The baffled men of the house, Jonathon Harker, played by Andy Jean, Arthur Holmwood, played by Alexander Ray, and Dr. Jack Seward, played by Ryan Ray, join forces with Helsing to take charge, as a race to save Mina Harker from the Count heats up.

The performance runs with three shows a weekend until Oct. 25, with evening shows starting at 8 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and a matinee show on Sunday at 2 p.m. Tickets can be purchased at the playhouse website at https://highspringsplayhouse.com/

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ALACHUA ‒ The COVID-19 pandemic is having a dramatic effect on the methods Americans are using to vote. Due to concerns about social distancing and the spread of the virus, records numbers are choosing to either vote by mail or early voting to avoid long lines on Nov. 3. The election is expected to produce record turnout in the number of Americans that are participating in the election process and has already set records for both mail-in and early voting with more than 29 million voting early by Monday, Oct. 19, according to the US Election Project. In contrast, only 6 million had voted by this time in 2016.

A number of states, including Florida, are breaking previous records. Texas and Georgia have already set records, and in Ohio, a crucial swing state, more than 2.3 million postal ballots have been requested, double the figure in 2016. Despite claims of voter fraud by mail in-ballots there is little evidence that it exists. According to a 2017 study by the Brennan Center for Justice, the rate of voting fraud overall in the U.S. is between 0.00004 percent and 0.0009 percent. Reports indicate that registered Democrats have so far outvoted registered Republicans—casting more than double the number of ballots.

Florida counties have mailed out more than 5.6 million ballots for the Nov. 3 general election and nearly 1.8 million have already been returned, according to the Division of Elections website. That’s more than 12 percent of registered voters in the state. Two factors help explain the massive spike. Several states changed laws from four years ago to either offer or expand early voting, and more people are taking advantage of it, particularly voting by mail, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

On Monday, Oct. 19, early voting in person opened in Florida with long lines forming at all six polling places in Alachua County. Each voter maintained a 6-foot social distancing in line and most wore masks as an extra precaution to not catch or spread the virus. It is expected that the pace will continue up to Oct. 31 when early voting closes.

Early voting is required in any election that contains a state or federal office race. The early voting period must start at least on the 10th day before the election and end on the 3rd day before the election. In addition, supervisors of elections have the option to offer more early voting on the 15^th, 14^th, 13^th, 12^th, 11^th, or 2^nd day before an election. Early voting hours must be at least eight hours, but no more than 12 hours per day at each site during the applicable period.

There are six locations for early voting in Alachua County. The Alachua County Supervisor of Elections Office at 515 N. Main St., Suite 100, Gainesville; Tower Road Branch Library at 3020 S.W. 75^th St., Gainesville; Millhopper Branch Library at 3145 N.W. 43^rd St., Gainesville; Orange Heights Baptist Church at 16700 N.E. SR 26, Hawthorne; J. Wayne Reitz Union on the University of Florida Campus at 655 Reitz Union Drive, and Legacy Park Multipurpose Center at 15400 Peggy Road in the city of Alachua. Early voting sites will be open 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

A number of people who planned to vote by mail are delivering their ballots in person at drop boxes to ensure their timely delivery. The drop boxes are located outside the polling sites, so people delivering their filled in mail ballots do not have to stand in line. Polling locations have drop boxes Oct. 19 through Saturday, Oct. 31. However due to concerns about COVID-19, record numbers are still using the mail-in option. For people interested in voting by mail, the deadline to request a ballot is Saturday, Oct. 24.

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ALACHUA ‒ The Alachua Lions Club held their annual White Cane Walk on Saturday, Oct. 10. The walk started at the Alachua Branch Library, just off U.S. Highway 441 and participants walked to the Lions Club at 15115 N.W. 142^nd Terrace, across from Alachua City Hall. The walk is intended to educate the community about Florida’s White Cane Law and the difficulties of being visually impaired. Over the years, the Lions club has partnered with the Alachua Police Department, the local Police Explorers Club and Boy Scout troop 88, Santa Fe High School, Alachua County Council for the Blind and others to provide walkers, escorts, cooking and demonstrations for the walk, which began as an Alachua Troop 88 Eagle Scout project by Adam Boukari.

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