Every year on a day in early October, PMHS art students head down Wolfs Lane to paint storefront windows. This year, on October 14 for Cohort A students, and October 15th for Cohort B students, the windows spanning from Anne Kossowan Orthodontics to Richards Passport were painted for Halloween. The students were given the theme “hopeful” in efforts to tie this into their painting and tailor their painting to the store they were assigned. The students spent an entire school day working on their paintings and as usual, the store owners were very pleased with the art.

For the third year in a row, Ms. Fallon and Ms. Wals organized the field trip to paint the shops in downtown Pelham. Decades ago, Pelham had this tradition but Ms. Fallon wanted to bring it back.

“We did Halloween Window Painting when I went to high school, and it was one of my favorite days of the year,” said Fallon. 

Fallon and Wals reached out to all the stores on Wolfs Lane to see if they would lend their windows, and almost all of them were thrilled to have them painted. The PTA covered the art supplies and the students came prepared with their unique ideas. 

The students seemed to have a great time getting the opportunity to showcase their work to the town. Junior Julia Wall, is an art student who has participated in the window paintings for two years. She has always found the event very enjoyable.

“Everything ran very smoothly. The weather was perfect and I’m very happy with how it turned out” said Wall. “Although we had to miss a day of school, it was worth it.”

The store owners also enjoy this tradition just as much as the students. Anne Kossowan from Anne Kossowan Orthodontics loves to give the students an opportunity to display their work. They even commissioned PMHS artists to paint their windows to honor the essential workers and the 2020 graduates.

“The designs are terrific and we are amazed by the artistic talent of the artists. The artists really do a professional job. We hope this tradition continues indefinitely,” Kossowan said. “We would like to see a spring window painting tradition started as well.”