Getcha Wild Rumpus On!

This Saturday, for the fourth year in a row, the Wild Rumpus Parade and Spectacle takes over the streets of downtown Athens for a ghoulish and garish celebration of all things Halloween. Expect lots of costumes, floats and general debauchery, according to founder and Master of Ceremonies Timi Conley.

"Halloween, since I've been in Athens, has always been crazy," Conley says, noting that he has engineered some sort of celebratory event every October that he's lived here—since 1991. "It's sort of like a license to act how you wanna act, and be free."

The initial Rumpus, in 2009, was a shambolic affair that "wasn't legal," Conley admits. The following year, due to the energetic response, the proper permits were acquired, and the Wild Rumpus began in earnest. Money from sponsorships is donated to a designated charity; this year, it's the Athens Area Humane Society.

The parade begins at 8 p.m. and is open to all-comers. Conley calls for new "noisemakers" to add to the racket already made by the official Rumpus drumline (deemed the "Highfalutin' Scallywags") along the route. This year's theme is "Howl at the Moon," though participants need not interpret that strictly. "Brigades," clusters of folks with similarly themed costumes, are heartily encouraged.

Post-parade, the afterparty begins at the Georgia Theatre, with sets from Conley's band Kite to the Moon (featuring local trapeze artists Tiger Girlz), as well as Velveteen Pink and the noted costume enthusiasts in of Montreal.

The fun will continue long into the night—fitting, for a town that takes partying so seriously. "Athens is kind of like Never-Never Land," Conley says. "I think it attracts the sort of person that never grows up."

Of course, he is a prime example of that type. He continues, with a slight grin, "There's something very primal about doing something completely non-practical and letting your imagination really run free."