Despite its small size, or perhaps because of it, Freemansburg is one of the most friendly municipalities in the Lehigh Valley. At their Night Out in August, council members and Mayor Gerald Yob fed practically the entire town. It happened again during the annual Halloween Parade. Not only were there hot dogs at the end, but kids and even parents were showered with candy.

State Rep. Bob Freeman got a few lessons in government from Uncle Sam (played by Brian Fox), who marched the entire route.

"How do you get down?" asked a passerby.

"There's only two ways, and one of them is very painful," answered Uncle Sam.

This parade, like the past 10, was organized by Lyn Boger. She said it's her last.

It was initially unclear whether the parade would go on at all. The skies were gloomy, and rain threatening.

But in the distance, and growing louder, were the sounds of not one, but three marching bands. North East, Broughal and Nitschmann middle schools all had entries, and as they came closer, the skies cleared up just enough.

Let the candy throwing begin. And that's what happened. Police Chief Todd Pantuso, Borough Manager Judith Danko, the Shriners, the Lehigh Valley Roller Girls and even some scary-looking chicken all had bag after bag of candy.

Kids would darted out into the streets to pick up the pieces. Some had buckets. Some had bags. All had full mouths.

Other places might have bigger parades, or more noteworthy participants, but it's hard to replicate the good feeling everyone had after this parade was over. And that was even better than the candy.