Every morning in October, two Fishers moms step outside their homes dressed as Frankenstein, Michael Myers, werewolves or skeletons, not to scare anyone or collect candy, but simply to make their neighbors smile. Erin Lange and Jill Enustun, described as best friends and moms, have turned their daily walk around a Fishers neighborhood into a month-long costume parade with one goal in mind: brightening the mornings of everyone who sees them.
The tradition traces back to October 2025, according to WTHR, when Lange and Enustun began dressing up each morning and walking their route in full costume. Lange told the station they dress up each morning in October and walk around in costumes, choosing fun over fright as their motivation. The costumes rotate through classic Halloween staples, but the point, both moms say, has never been to scare people or score free candy from strangers.
A Route That Runs Past a Bus Stop Full of Kids
Their walks take them along 126th Street in Fishers, a stretch of road that doubles as a major morning transit route for school buses and commuting families. Hamilton Southeastern High School, which serves more than 3,400 students, sits at 13910 East 126th Street, making the corridor one of the busiest school-traffic arteries in the city, according to Wikipedia. That heavy flow of buses and commuters gives the two moms a built-in audience every single weekday morning.
Kids riding those buses have taken notice. Children press their faces against the windows and wave to the costumed pair as they pass, and Lange said the students on the bus recognize them and start their day in a good mood on the way to school. For Enustun, the reaction at home has been just as telling. She said their own children are used to seeing them dress up and are not embarrassed by it, a sign the tradition has become a normal, welcome part of October in their household.
Grown-Ups Need to Be Silly Too, Moms Say
Lange has framed the whole project as a reminder that adults sometimes forget to have fun and lose touch with the magic they had as kids. Dressing up as a werewolf or a skeleton on a Tuesday morning, in other words, is less about Halloween tradition and more about refusing to let grown-up routines crowd out a little joy.
There is research that backs up the instinct behind their daily walks. The Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley has found that shared, spontaneous laughter acts as a kind of social glue, strengthening bonds between neighbors and even strangers and creating a shared sense of community. Two moms in monster makeup, waving at a school bus, fits neatly into that idea of small, repeated moments of levity adding up to something bigger for a neighborhood.
Fishers Keeps Growing, and So Does Its Halloween Spirit
The timing lines up with a city that has been expanding rapidly. Fishers reached an estimated population of 105,932 residents in 2026, growing more than 6% since the 2020 Census to remain Indiana's fifth-largest city, according to World Population Review. Hamilton County, which includes Fishers, Carmel and Noblesville, has grown alongside it, reaching roughly 387,000 residents in 2025 and ranking as the fourth-most populous county in the state, per USAFacts.
Fishers already has an official outlet for citywide Halloween cheer. The City of Fishers Parks Department runs Boo Bash, a non-spooky Halloween celebration at the Nickel Plate District Amphitheater that draws between 4,000 and 5,000 attendees each October, complete with costume parades and local business booths. Fishers Police Chief Ed Gebhart has also set official trick-or-treat hours for Halloween night, running from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., with safety guidance urging bright, flame-resistant costumes and adult supervision. Against that backdrop, Lange and Enustun's informal morning ritual reads as a smaller, homegrown companion to the city's bigger seasonal traditions.
Part of a Record Year for Halloween Spending
The moms' costume rotation also fits into a much larger national picture this year. Total U.S. consumer spending on Halloween is projected to hit a record $13.5 billion in 2026, with 74% of Americans planning to celebrate and spending an average of $115.14 per person, according to the National Retail Federation. Costumes alone are expected to account for $4.4 billion of that total, with 71% of participants buying outfits for adults, kids or pets, per GOBankingRates.
Not every dollar is going toward brand-new gear, though. The National Retail Federation's 2026 survey found that 34% of Halloween shoppers plan to manage costs by buying items they can reuse or repurpose in future years, a budget-conscious approach that lines up with the idea of a costume collection worn again and again each October morning rather than purchased once and discarded.
126th Street itself has drawn attention from Fishers city leaders this month for reasons beyond costumed walkers. As Hoodline reported on traffic concerns along the corridor, officials recently delayed a rezoning request near the roadway over worries about commuter flow, underscoring just how heavily traveled this stretch of Fishers already is. For Lange and Enustun, that same busy corridor has simply become the stage for a monthlong tradition built on nothing more than costumes, a wave, and the hope of a few more smiles before the school bell rings.
