From Harry Potter and pirates to Candyland and coffins, Palo Alto city departments and employees were decked out in Halloween ghoulishness Monday (Oct. 31) for the city's first-ever Halloween contest.
City Manager James Keene sported a pirate costume, complete with hook hand, eye patch and multiple cutlasses; City Attorney Molly Stump dressed as the queen bee in the haunted beehive on City Hall's 8th floor.
Mayor Sid Espinosa arrived at the Harry Potter-themed Children's Library dressed as Waldo and Councilman Greg Scharff accompanied him as the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland.
The revenue-collections department on city hall's first floor was chock full of velvet-lined coffins and bottles of pickled eyeballs and other delicacies. "Broom parking permits $13," a sign read.
The city manager and clerk's offices were decorated in a pirate theme, while human resources played on one's sweet tooth with its over-sized dangling candies.
Espinosa announced the winner -- a tie between the city attorney's beehive and the Planning Department's "Son of Man" painting by Surrealist painter Rene Magritte.
"No taxpayer dollars were spent," Espinosa said.
