This moody meditation on the holiday, at Thai Sticky Rice on Mass. Ave., is by Soline Fisher, 16, Arlington High School student. / Courtesy Arlington Heights Community Association.
UPDATED Oct. 12: Black cats, bats, spiders and ghosts were among the possible designs on as many as 58 shop windows earlier this autumn in the Arlington Heights business district in western Arlington. Participants decorated storefront windows on Saturday, Sept. 30, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Registration was open through Saturday, Sept. 23, and entries were accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
As in the past, participants were allowed to paint solo or with a family members and friends. All windows were required to have a family-friendly Halloween theme. Anyone who lives in or attends school in Arlington was eligible to participate. Painters under age 12 had to be accompanied by an adult. The $25 registration fee covered an assortment of paint brushes and seven acrylic paints in a preselected color palette, which was made available to painters on the day of the event. Painters earlier were emailed window assignments, a rules and information flyer, and a list of supplies and tips.
The paintings are to remain on display in preparation for the Chamber of Commerce-sponsored annual "Heights Halloween Stroll" set for Friday, Oct. 27, from 3 to 5 p.m. One may see another painting further down in this article.
This event is organized annually by the Arlington Heights Community Association (AHCA), the Arlington Chamber of Commerce and the Arlington Commission for Arts and Culture. 
Window painting at the Roasted Granola Café on Mass. Ave. created by the Queer/Straight Alliance of Ottoson Middle School. /photo courtesy Arlington Heights Community Association
The AHCA is a group of Arlington Heights business owners, residents and nonprofits who meet monthly to address local issues and concerns, support beautification projects and organize public events such as three seasonal window paintings, the holiday stroll and the Spring Fling Festival.
Meetings typically take place on the third Thursday morning of every month.
Those interested in attending a meeting, volunteering at an event or making a donation to support activities are urged to contact Janet O’Riordan,
Oct. 1, 2021: Halloween Heights' 41 windows shown
This news announcement was published Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2023, with information from Janet O’Riordan, a volunteer with the Arlington Heights Community Association, who annually helps organize the window-painting events of the AHCA. It was updated Oct. 9, 2023, with a photograph of the window painting, on Oct. 10, 2023, to correct the name of the artist who created that painting; and again Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023, to add a second photograph of a different window painting.
