Halloween on a Friday night in Highland and Munster. That alone would clog streets with parents in vehicles following their costumed youngsters, and with teenaged partygoers on the road to celebrate.
But add a sectional football game between Munster and Merrillville high schools, a Halloween party for adults at Wicker Park and, oh yes, a visit by a presidential candidate just three days before an historical election, and it could be the Nightmare on Main Street (or any other street in these Ridge communities).
However, the only gridlock Friday evening seemed to be on the roads leading directly to the rally for Sen. Barack Obama at Wicker Park. And Highland police, Indiana State Police and Lake County sheriff's deputies kept vehicles moving.
Traffic traveling north or south on Indianapolis Boulevard from Hammond or Highland started slowing about 5 p.m. near the intersection with Ridge Road. Between 5 and 6:30 p.m., lines of vehicles slowed to a bumper-to-bumper crawl along Ridge Road as it meets Prairie Avenue at the entrance to Wicker Park.
The longest lines of traffic were composed of vehicles trying to pull into Wicker Park from Ridge Road. There was room for an estimated 4,000 cars on the park's driving range and part of the golf course.
At 5:45 p.m., that parking was closed and Highland police began directing drivers to the old Kmart parking lot. A shuttle bus service was set up to bring people to the rally from that lot, several miles north of the park.
Another wave of vehicles was admitted to Wicker Park as more parking spaces opened up at 6:15 p.m. From Indianapolis Boulevard, lines of cars could be seen parked all along Wicker Park's golf course and grassy edges.
Some businesses along Indianapolis Boulevard in Highland and Hammond charged drivers $15 to $20 to park in their lots. Enterprising residents in the 2000 and 2100 blocks of Ridge Road also provided parking spaces for a $20 per car fee.
Early Friday morning, the Munster Police Department posted no-parking signs all along residential streets from White Oak Avenue east to Hawthorne. Steve Enochs, who lives on Crestwood Avenue just two blocks from Wicker Park, said it made a difference in traffic on his street, particularly during 5 and 7 p.m. when children were out trick-or-treating.
"I think it's great," Enochs said. "Munster police also came down the street patrolling after 5 p.m."
Munster police presence could be seen on those streets that border Wicker Park. A squad car and barricades blocked the entrance to Hawthorne, with police only letting in residents with IDs.
But most people arrived at the rally on foot, having parked wherever they could find a spot.
Dan and Carol Punday walked from their Munster home on Ridgeway near Calumet Avenue to Wicker Park with their son, Sam.
"It's not far. This is important," Carol Punday said as the family entered Wicker Park.
Millie Malecker only had to walk about 10 feet to a camp chair in her front yard to see and hear the spectacle at Wicker Park. Her home on the 2100 block of Ridge Road in Highland faces the park.
"It's fabulous," she said. "And we don't have to deal with the crowds, but we can see and hear Senator Obama."
Huddled beneath a blanket on her camp chair, Malecker said she has a front row seat to "history in the making, the scene hopefully of things to come. It's refreshing that Indiana might have a say in this election."
