Friday is the downtown trickor- treating event in Lexington. From 3:30 to 5, hundreds of children accompanied by their parents will fill the downtown and their treat bags with candy from participating downtown merchants.
Though this event was first envisioned as an opportunity for children to get an extra helping of sweets, it has become a joyous celebration in which whole families turn out dressed in costume, often as characters from a film, a TV show or a video game. On one street you might see a family dressed as characters from “The Wizard of Oz” and then just a block down there will be another group decked out in the monochrome colors of “The Addams Family.” In recent years characters from Minecraft have made appearances on Main Street. Elsa the Snow Queen from “Frozen” is still well represented by little girls and boys seem to love to dress as Deadpool from Marvel Comics. .
One person who will be noticeably absent from the festivities on Friday is Frank Friedman.
Much has been said about the beloved Lexington mayor who passed away suddenly in early July of this year. He has been remembered for his love of Lexington, his devotion to civic duty and his ability to be a friend instantly to everyone he met.
I met Frank when I was 10 years old. He was dating the daughter of the minister at Trinity United Methodist Church. They chaperoned a party that I had ahead of fourth grade. They basically had to make sure the girls weren’t getting into too many heated discussions over who was cuter – Bo or Luke Duke from “The Dukes of Hazzard.” The boys present at the party were told not to be too mean to the girls who were trying their best to ignore them.
When not chaperoning kids’ parties, Frank was active in student government in high school. He was also a member of the football team.
Frank’s ambitions took him far away from his Lexington roots as he built his career in financial services in Jacksonville, Fla., and then in Richmond. He eventually came back to Lexington, the city he loved, to raise his family. He was elected mayor in 2016 and was reelected in 2020 and 2024. At the time of his death he was a financial adviser at CornerStone Bank.
When running for Lexington City Council in 2006, Frank said in a candidate profile for The News-Gazette, “The locals need to embrace the downtown.” And that is exactly what Frank did. I have covered several events in the wake of Frank’s passing and I have thought to myself often, “Frank would love this.” Back in July when the Freedom Food Festival was held in downtown Lexington, I kept expecting to see him in a seersucker suit and bow tie with a plate of barbecue in his hands. Instead, there was a framed picture of him on a table in Courthouse Square. Lexington recently had its first-ever country-western line dancing event on Main Street. I know he would have been boot scootin’ with the best of them.
It’s hard to believe that we won’t be seeing Frank on the streets of Lexington this Halloween. He and his wife Melissa truly understood the assignment when it came to dressing up for the occasion. Most memorably they portrayed Mary Poppins and Bert the Chimney Sweep in 2021 and Alice and the White Rabbit in 2024. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he had already planned his costume for this year.
On the day of Frank’s death, I drove home listening to the local radio station. In tribute to Frank, the DJ played James Taylor’s “Fire and Rain.” I teared up listening to these words in the chorus: “But I always thought that I’d see you again.” I thought of all those times I saw Frank walking down the street, always with a smile on his face as he waved to me, never thinking that one day he would vanish from this earth far too soon.
Even though he is gone, I will still look for Frank on Friday. And I will see him in the jubilant faces of all the people who come to Lexington to celebrate the season of Halloween, coming from all over the county to embrace the downtown.
