On the surface, our Midwestern capital seems pretty staid: our downtown is pert and fairly tidy, lots of parks and fountains and couples strolling arm-in-arm down the avenues as the sun sets daintily in the elbow of Confluence Park.

After that, however, things get a little … weird.

October: the annual equivalent of nightfall, after summer is officially dead, but just before it’s buried. This month, succubae and revenants and the aggressively tattooed will let down their hair and roam the streets, basements, bar tops and barns unfettered. All the best weird stuff happens in October, and (614) has determined to provide you with a roadmap to the bizarre.

Halloween Haute Couture

What happens when 20,000 revelers shut down High Street right under the arches and hold a bizarre Halloween fashion show? An eight-foot spider steps on your face … and that’s new this year!

The fourth-ever HighBall is a phantasmal fashion show and the city’s go-to Halloween party in one, centered on a massive stage that sits like a stake in the heart of the Short North Arts District. There, under High Street’s famous arches, both professional and amateur designers pull out all the stops, parading their models down the runway with elaborate gowns, ghoulish hair-dos, and some of the most spectacular costumes you will see this side of Mardi Gras. Local Queen of Drag Queens Nina West reprises her role as emcee, while Tommy Pietch will transform three gorgeous dancers into the classic Universal monsters in front of your eyes, and giant puppets take the stage for the first time. Meanwhile, Ashley "Coreroc" Voss will create a real-time ultraviolet mural ... and did I mention the eight-foot tarantula?

Pietch, who was flown to California twice to compete in the SyFy special effects reality series Face/Off, just barely missed the cut to be on the show, which he described as akin to Top Chef for make-up artists. Pietch said the exposure has been getting him regular special effects work since then, including his biggest job to date with HighBall 2011. “I can’t describe how excited I am to do this for my hometown,” wrote Pietch in an e-mail. “I love this city, and when John Angelo came to me and asked if I would be interested in spotlighting the year’s biggest event on High Street, I couldn’t say no! I shot him the idea my special effects team and I have been kicking around for the past year: taking the classic Universal Studios monsters and reimagining them as contemporary women – the Daughters of Horror, if you will.”

Pietch said that he was planning to make the girls up as the three most famous movie monsters of all time: Count Dracula, the Wolfman and Frankenstein’s Monster. He hopes that this event will become the centerpiece of his portfolio as he tries out for the third season of Face/Off, but the most exciting part for him is the opportunity to showcase his work in his own hometown.

“We have one of the best communities for the arts I’ve seen in the U.S. right here in Columbus, and the HighBall is something that truly embraces the span of creativity pulsing out of every person in our city,” he enthused. “It’s a night where we can truly be whatever we want to be, and come together as a community of gifted and talented dreamers.” Voss, who's perhaps best known for his neo-urban mural stylings and his involvement with the Junctionview Fire Show, told us about some of the new concepts for this year’s stage mural. Voss said Angelo, executive director of the Short North Business Association, wants lots of “light and intensity” this year.

“So, I’m looking to do a mural that’s a little more three-dimensional, with some depth and some shapes to it, with some backlighting and some live electricity running through it,” said Voss, who thinks shutting down High Street for a huge party is part of the fun.

“To be able to close down the streets and just take it over has always been a really awesome feeling at HighBall,” he said. “It brings people down to the district to party in the street.”

HighBall Masquerade on High
October 28th
5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Admission: $5
High St. at Fifth Ave
www.highballhalloween.com