We’ve seen the Great Eclipse, the Sturgeon Moon, the Mooch, and Fire and Fury 5: Too Fire, Too Fury! Now this unpredictable year promises that familiar funtime, Halloween—if we make it from now till then, etc., etc.

You probably have excellent costume ideas. If you and your squad can pull off that Addams Family/West Wing cosplay crossover you’ve storyboarded, proceed. But if you don’t coordinate, you’re going to have three orange-haired Gomezes—and who knows how many Sexy Morticialanias.

I offer this installment of Portland Monthly as unofficial inspiration if you need it. You could start by affecting height and an oddly regal bearing and go as Ron Wyden, who tells us about the state of things. Or get conceptual: deck yourself in pine needles and go as Wyden’s proposed Recreation Not Red-Tape Act. And if we’re really trying to be creative, you could horrify many Portlanders by dressing as a new condo tower.

Our fall fashion feature is, itself, a high concept: a look at brands, many local, reviving classic western style in ways editor Eden Dawn assures me are “not too state fair.” Or turn to Chuck Thompson’s report on biology and technology behind Alaska’s chinook salmon catch. With Amy Martin’s art design, it suggests zombie fish-heads marching through the north.

Leah Sottile’s look at Sasquatch’s modern image, 50 years after the iconic Patterson-Gimlin film, makes a pretty obvious point of departure. With so many cultural distractions, Bigfoot is now a neglected classic among Northwest Halloween options. Your friends certainly don’t need yet another “Unnerving Girl from Stranger Things” at this year’s party, so maybe check out Harry and the Hendersons instead. 

Of our story on chef Chris Cosentino’s new cookbook, Offal Good, I shall say nothing. Too fire. Too fury. Probably needs a trigger warning.

Whatever you decide to do, hopefully the very core of this issue—our guides to Northwest wine country and the great Oregon wines of right now—provides an appropriate form of fuel. It is good to savor the things that make our home territory most excellent, no matter what’s going on, and no matter who is pretending to be what.

Me? I will be at home, making pierogi. All treat, no trick.

Zach Dundas
Editor in Chief