Living: airbnb in West Ashville, NC

Working: AVL Coworking, West Ashville

Laundry: Dutch Girl, West Ashville

This Week in Laundry it’s Halloween.

I’ve made it out of the Northeast Megalopolis. Out of DC. After another day on the Mall, I took to my car once more. West and South to the mountains in Virginia. Followed them to Tennessee. And then to North Carolina. To come over the high hills and settle into Asheville.

Sunset on the road to Asheville

Here I’ve found a city I’ve never seen before. And yet seen everywhere. Somehow perfectly mixing elements of Austin, bits of Seattle, senses Boulder, and the cradling of Bozeman. With a hint of Minneapolis.

It is a city of Biscuits. Of Beer. And of Coffee. Be that Biscuit Head, Wicked Weed, or Bean Werks. I’ve had all three.

And then there’s New Belgium’s new Appalacian operation

There’s a rich art scene. The westside artist co-op shares the building with this week’s coworking space. Let alone the river arts district along the French Broad.

Studios in Asheville’s River Arts District

And the people oscillate between the heavily dyed and pierced alt scene kids, to the hippies that were here before them, to the young families that choose to call this area home.

A mural in Asheville’s River Arts District reflects the colorful population that calls this city home

All of these things define Asheville as ununiquely unique. But in this moment, one feature stands above all others. It is a city covered with people in costumes. Family. Children. Grown adults. They all come to the street dressed for this day. Parading down the hill outside this laundromat window.

A band plays on the street while Democrats canvass to Belle and Scooby Doo – truly an Asheville Halloween

To many Halloween stands as a favorite holiday. Especially those in the themed entertainment world with roots to the ancillary industry – the immersive haunt.

And whether your participation focuses on house decorations, immersive haunt experiences, or simply costumes, the tour de force can’t be denied. The American cultural expression has ubiquitously built this holiday within its identity.

Halloween shines as another great example of cultural expression through textiles. In this case costume creativity. We find both expressions of pop culture and cultural trends. And reflections on both. Not only does the Harley Quinn costume saturate the scene this season, so too have the social media posts reflecting such the case.

On the other hand, you’re unlikely to find the intentional garb of Austin Powers as easily as years past. Such is the case as the cultural expression, this Halloween costuming, follows pop culture popularity. Quinn is in. Austin, no longer awesome.

Seasonal expression sits at the root of many cultures. So much of what we do and how we operate as people, and collectively as a society, responds to the seasons. From the cultivation and preservation of food, to the preparation of our clothing for oncoming changes in temperature, to our energy usage patterns.

From ancient to modern, the seasons strongly affect the way we operate. They naturally command our attention. Strongly tinting our observation of the world.

And with so much of our minds as a people occupied with the seasons, it’s only natural that we reflect this in our culture. The progression of the year in fall. The arrival of winter. The cyclic transition of the year. The prosperity of summer. Each of these seasonal moments follows with cultural celebration. Be it Thanksgiving, Christmas or Hanukkah, New Years, the religious holidays of spring, or even the fourth of July in the US, which is every bit a celebration of summer as it is our nation’s independence.

And today we hold the seasonal cultural expression called Halloween.

Just as these cultural expressions thrive in our homes, on our streets, and in our churches and public spaces, so too do they find their way into the theme parks. And since, in many ways, theme parks create artificial cultural moments on any given day, these seasonal expressions of actual culture amplify under such entertainment practices.

The parks become a dazzling display of cultural expression. Be it a saturation of holiday decoration at Disneyland, including the Nightmare Before Christmas overlay at the Haunted mansion, or the expansive evergreen trees, tinsel, and lights strung throughout Universal and Disney World.

Amongst all the seasonal cultural expressions found in the parks, Halloween is perhaps the strongest. Largely because fall serves as the end of the season for many regional parks. Halloween comes as a moment not just to decorate at the end of the season, but to create a special experience to draw guests back for one last visit before the park, as well as the books, close for the year. It’s the perfect moment to push for one last swell in attendance – and one last boost in ticket sales.

Attendance surges from seasonal exploits aren’t limited to the regional parks. Universal in Hollywood and Orlando also deliver. They call this Halloween Horror Nights.

They fill their parks with actors in horror themed make up and costume. And they build gigantic themed mazes throughout their parks. These serve as temporary mini attractions amongst their standard rides. They also serve as an expression of that American Halloween standard, the haunt, with rich IP like the Walking Dead, Krampus, and American Horror Story, in a way that traditional haunts don’t address.

It is truly the Theme Park expression of American haunted attractions. And Universal does it well.

Halloween is a moment when America at large participates in what we as experience designers do every day. The creation of story. The expression of textile. The sculpting of space. And not in service to the creation of an instrument of commerce, but as a genuine expression of culture.

It shows just how interrelated culture is to theme park design, and theme parks to natural cultural expression. One reflects the other, and vice versa. Culture shines as the human mechanism that allows theme parks to function so well as a form of entertainment. And likewise, theme parks designed with cultural expression in mind find a strong reception.

Or theme parks to asheville neighborhood community gardens.

And story binds it all together in a tight package. Like a vine that interweaves through both park and home. Through space and culture. Through costume and custom. Through parade and people.

As for this year in Halloween, my costume is none. There isn’t room for such excess within this bag. My identity this night remains my own. None the less a guest to this community. To Asheville. This cradle within the mountains. This comforting, insular space. Full of friendly people. Full of families on parade. Full of Pimento cheese and biscuits.

From beside these drums at the Dutch Girl in Asheville, Happy Halloween.

Advise from the Dutch Girl