October 28th, 1989

You know how there are just certain days from your past that you remember more than others? Well October 28th, 1989 is one of those days for me. It was a Saturday, which meant cartoons in the morning, but it was what went on that night that made it memorable. Let me tell you about it.

I’ve talked about the yearly Harvest Festival we had every year at my elementary school. Well, in 1989, the Harvest Festival fell on Saturday night, October 28th. So all day long I was eager with anticipation of that night’s event. It was also the night of WCW’s first Halloween Havoc pay-per-view event, which admittedly, put me in a disadvantageous position of possibly having to choose one or the other to enjoy that evening. So my morning hours were wracked with nervous feelings. Not enough that I couldn’t enjoy my usual Saturday morning cartoons, but it still played on my mind throughout the day. Normally, I can make my mind up quickly about things, but this was different. This particular day offered a very hard decision to make.

But as the cartoons ended and the afternoon started to roll around, my Dad made an offer. Since he would be going to the Harvest Festival with us so he could play bingo, he wouldn’t be there to watch TV. He suggested that we set the timer on the VCR and record Halloween Havoc while we were out! Now keep in mind, this was still the era before we had one of the cable black boxes that allowed us to get all of the PPV shows at no additional charge. At that time, I was allowed to order every other wrestling PPV, and this was the show. I skipped WWF’s Summerslam that year because I had gotten The Great American Bash in July. So we got the PPV ordered and the time set so I wouldn’t have to miss Halloween Havoc after all. With that set, I could turn my attention to the Harvest Festival.

So I spent the afternoon playing with Construx toys while I counted down the time left before time to go to the Harvest Festival. You know how I know I was playing with Construx? Because I was already trying to build what my interpretation was of the Thunderdome cage that was to be featured in the main event of the wrestling show that night. As it turned out, I wasn’t that far off.

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I really can’t remember my Halloween costumes from through the years. While that is true, I actually do remember my costume from 1989. I went as a convict. It wasn’t the most creative idea, but at least I had a costume. Time was getting close, so I got the costume on, but I still had a little time before we would be leaving.

It was in that short amount of time that I watched the only episode of the TV show “She’s the Sheriff” that I would ever watch. Since She’s the Sheriff was a syndicated show, and since it had already ended its first run, I probably had to have been watching it on my local Fox affiliate. I can’t tell you what episode it was that I saw that day, and since there are no full episodes on Youtube for me to embed, you’ll just have to make do with a video of the opening credits for the show.

So we finally got to the Harvest Festival and my first order of business was to take my Mom to the showcase and show it off to her. Our school had a big showcase display right across from the office in the main hub of the school. Back then, the top three classes at school all had a part of the Harvest Festival to handle. The 7th graders got to put on the yearly haunted house, the 6th graders were in charge of The Disco, or The Batcave as it was called in 1989, and we 5th graders had to put together the showcase. The theme for that year was antiques, and my Mom had donated her grandmother’s kitchen knife to be put on display with the other relics. The showcase wasn’t really anything special, but since we worked on it, I had to show it off.

Once I got tickets to the games in the gym, it was time to say bye to the folks and go run with my friends for the night while all the parents went to the cafeteria to play bingo. I used to think that would be so boring until I had kids of my own, and then it turned out that the bingo was the highlight of my night when taking my kids to these things.

My friends and I ran around and played games, toured the haunted house, and made several trips to The Bat Cave. Not to dance mind you, but to hear the music and hang out in the darkened room. No self-respecting 5th-grade boy could be seen dancing awkwardly in front of the girls.

But even as I was having all of this fun, my mind kept drifting back to home and the hard-hitting NWA action I was missing out on. The Festival was starting to wind down so I made my trip to the “general store” to buy some old-fashioned candy and got ready to go home to see how things were turning out in the wrestling battles.

The flaw in my plan was realized when we got home and the show was still going. So not wanting to get spoiled on anything prematurely, I waited until it was over, rewound the tape, and started the show!

I had been highly anticipating the Halloween Havoc show because the NWA had done such an amazing job building up not only the rivalries but the theme of the show itself. It had a Halloween setting and had an advertised main event of a Thunderdome cage match pitting Ric Flair and Sting against Terry Funk and The Great Muta. The promotion for the cage itself was fantastic as they boasted it would be the largest cage in history and would be electrified to make sure the competitors stayed inside.

But not only was the main event something I was really looking forward to but there were also several other key matches that night as well. The first meeting between The Road Warriors and The Skyscrapers was dubbed as The irresistible force meeting the immovable object, The Steiner Brothers taking on the mysterious tag-team only known as Doom, Lex Luger meeting Brian Pillman, and other matches.

It was hard staying awake that night to take it all in, but I fought my way through it, and watching that show capped off a great night in my young life.

After all of these years, it’s funny to think back about how a school event and a wrestling show could make such a lasting impression on me. But I think it has more to do with the current state of life we find ourselves in. So much responsibility with jobs, families, and the like, that sometimes our hearts ache to just go back, even if just for a little bit. And that’s what Retro Ramblings is for me. It’s my chance to go back, even if just briefly, to a simpler time. Thanks for taking a minute to make the trip with me.

And just for the record, here’s my ratings for the Halloween Havoc ’89 matches from that night:

  • Tom Zenk vs. Mike Rotunda – 2 stars
  • The Samoan Swat Team vs. The Midnight Express & Steve Williams – 3.5 stars
  • Tommy Rich vs. The Cuban Assassin – 1/2 a star
  • The Fabulous Freebirds vs. The Dynamic Dudes – 3.5 stars for the crowd atmosphere
  • The Steiner Brothers vs. Doom – 3 stars for the mystery
  • Lex Luger vs Brian Pillman – 4 stars
  • The Road Warriors vs. The Skyscrapers – 3 stars for the spectacle
  • Rick Flair & Sting vs. Terry Funk & Muta Thunderdome Cage Match – 4.5 stars for the whole experience

MTV Headbanger’s Ball Halloween Special from 1989

In case you’re staying in on this Halloween night like I am, you may want something to keep you entertained between visits from modern kids looking for free candy. And since you’re here at Retro Ramblings, then you must enjoy the finer things in life like stuff from the ’80s and ’90s. Well, I’ve got you covered on both fronts with this Watch & Listen feature.

It’s the 1989 MTV Headbanger’s Halloween special with Alice Cooper hosting! Not only is he presenting some of the spookier music videos and hosting segments in between, but this video also has all of the glorious 1989 commercials still intact as well. So feel free to make this your Halloween night entertainment, and take a little trip back in time while you do it. Enjoy, and Happy Halloween!

The Retro Network Halloween Special Podcast

This is a very special post as it’s The Retro Network Halloween Special Podcast, hosted by yours truly and Jason from Rediscover the ’80s. In this special, several podcasts from across The Retro Network came together for one mammoth special to help you celebrate the Halloween season. You’ll find all of the details below, followed by the podcast itself to listen to. If you’d rather listen to it in your podcast player of choice, just search out The Retro Network Presents or TRN Presents podcast to access it there. Enjoy.


HAPPY HALLOWEEN! The Retro Network 2022 Halloween Special marks the second time that shows across the network have come together to contribute to one special podcast. Your haunted hosts are Jason and Mickey of TRN Time Machine who will be adding some Halloween-themed Retro Rumble matchups that will make the hosts pick between two spooky favorites.

The Retro Network Halloween Special is sponsored by HalloweenCostumes.com featuring the largest selection of costumes in the world and spooky ugly sweaters! Save 20% OFF your entire order through Oct 31, 2022 by using this promo link. Click over, fill your cart, and the saving is automatically deducted!

Segments for the special include:

  • Greatest Lists – Jason and Eric share a list of “creepy” songs.
  • Wizards – Adam and Michael tell about comic book Halloween stories featuring celebrities.
  • Box Office 30 – Pete and Michael recall the Top 30 horror movies from 1992.
  • 2 Goofs – Adam and Jeff remember Halloween at Disney theme parks.
  • The (Haunted) House Show – Kevin and guest Adam discuss The Misfits in WCW.

We hope you enjoy the show and will leave feedback on your favorite segments or share the podcast on social media. Have a safe and Happy Halloween everyone!

The Yearly Harvest Festival at School

With fall most certainly in the air these days, and Halloween not too far away now, I thought this edition of Retro Ramblings would be a good time to talk about what used to be one of the highlights of my year…the annual Harvest Festival at my elementary school!


I’m using the term fall festival so more of you will know what I’m referring to.  But when I was in elementary school, ours was called the Harvest Festival.  Living in a farming community in the heart of the Appalachians, harvest time has always been a big deal to the people around here.  A good harvest was always a reason to celebrate, as the livelihood of most in this area depended on it.  The way nature works, the end of the harvest season lines up nicely with the Halloween season.  Thus, we had a Harvest Festival at school instead of calling it a Fall Festival, a Monster Mash, or other names I’ve heard these events referred to.

So you’ve probably been to one of these things.  The kids dress up, there are games and events, the parents wander around and congregate, and a good time is usually had by all.  Ours was always held at our elementary school and was the biggest event on the school calendar with the exception of the end-of-year banquet and graduation ceremonies.

The gymnasium was filled with cheesy carnival-type games where you could win prizes.  You know the kinds of games I’m talking about.  Like the kiddie pool filled with plastic ducks, and on the bottoms of a few of the ducks was some kind of indicator of a better prize than normal.  Everyone got something like a piece of candy or a spider ring just for playing, but if you pulled one of the special ducks, you may win something like a stuffed animal or the like.  So games like this littered the entire gym floor.  You had to buy tickets on your way in to use to play the games, and the money made from the sale of tickets was used for things around the school.

Our gym was connected to the lunchroom by a set of double doors, so it was easy to bounce back and forth between the two places.  The cafeteria was where the parents generally stayed.  There were concessions like hot dogs and pizza, and there was bingo all night.  And the bingo prizes were top-notch.  A lot of the businesses in town would donate really nice stuff to be given away, and this was another opportunity for the school to raise money.  I can’t even begin to remember what the bingo cost, but it wasn’t cheap.  But the price was small in comparison to how you would be helping the school, and the prizes you had a shot at winning.  I’m talking about stuff like brand new televisions, rocking chairs, a date night package with dinner at the restaurant and tickets to the theater….stuff like that.

We also had a haunted house as part of the event.  The 7th-grade class was always responsible for putting it on, and they would spend all week setting it up, and then they would dress up and be a part of the haunted house.  It was never too scary of an affair, but they tried.  We also had a dance room that some years was called The Disco, and other years was known as The Batcave.  But you could go there, the lights were turned out and black lights were in use, and there was a DJ spinning the hottest tunes of the time.  You and your friends…or your boyfriend/girlfriend could kill time together.

The whole event was great, and it was so much fun getting to run free and hang out with my friends in that environment for several hours on a Saturday night.  It was also cool that since it was usually the week before Halloween, everyone would dress up in their costumes to come. 

When I find myself drifting back to memories of elementary school, the yearly harvest festival is almost always the first thing that comes to mind.  But what about you?  Did you have anything like this when you were growing up? Share your stories in the comments section below.

Hot’n Devilish Chex Snack Mix Recipe from 1988

Here is another old recipe for you to try out at home in the modern age. I looked over the list of ingredients, and everything you need is still on the market today. This twist on the traditional snack mix looks really good, and should fit the Halloween season really well. I’ll be making a batch of this for Halloween night as my snack of choice while enjoying that night’s TV viewing. If you make this, drop a line in the comments with how it turned out.

1984 McDonaldland Fun Times Magazine Halloween Edition

It’s been a little while since I added any new scans to the archives, so what better way to make up for that than by posting a Halloween-related scan. There’s already a McDonaldland Fun Times magazine scan in the archives, but it’s from 1990 and wasn’t tied to a holiday or anything. But this one, oh my, this one is a Halloween-themed one and from the mid-80s, so it may be more in some of your wheelhouses. I hope you enjoy it.

Continue reading

Trading Cards as Halloween Treats

While I was at the grocery store earlier today, the Pokemon cards above caught my eye.

I think trading cards are such a great idea to stuff into the bags, sacks, buckets, and pillowcases of trick-or-treaters on Halloween. They’re going to get more than enough candy, so things like these cards give much-needed variety, and something to do while consuming said candy.

Back in the late ’80s and early ’90s, I did my trick-or-treating on the street that my grandmother lived on. The street had mostly elderly people living on it, and they absolutely loved to spoil all of the kids who came around trick-or-treating by giving not only the best candies on the market but numerous other trinkets as well.

One nice man in particular was an avid baseball card collector. He liked to help foster the passion for his hobby of choice by giving out unopened packs of baseball cards. And I’m not talking about small sample packs like the Pokemon ones pictured above. No, he spent a lot of money and bought regular packs to slip into kid’s bags.

Those cards made such an impression on me, that I can specifically remember the cards I got from him. In 1988 it was a pack of Topps, in 1989 was Fleer, and in 1990 was Donruss. It’s not an exaggeration for me to say that getting those cards in my trick-or-treat bag really helped kindle my love of collecting cards.

Seeing the Pokemon cards today also brought to mind “Trading Card Treats” that were available in 1991. Much like the Pokemon cards, you could buy bags of packs of trading cards, each featuring a few cards per pack. They were designed to be given away for trick-or-treating as 1991 was around the apex of the trading card hobby.

Trading Card Treats were available in several choices too, so whomever was giving them out could pick what they wanted to give. They could choose between Marvel Super Heroes, Archie Comics, Universal Studio Monsters, Inspector Gadget, Widget, or Nintendo cards to give away.

It was such a great concept back then and still is today. I don’t know if there are other trading card options out there this year like the Pokemon ones I saw, but I sure hope there are. If you want to be fondly remembered for years to come by this year’s crop of trick-or-treaters, consider giving away some trading cards instead of candy.

Pumpkin Spice Frosty

The 2023 Halloween junk food season is a good one so far. I highlighted a variety of our finds last week, but the hunts continue so there is probably another couple of those posts to come. But for this post, I want to focus on a single item…the new Pumpkin Spice Frosty from Wendy’s.

I didn’t have to seek this one out…it came to me. About three weeks ago, our friend Tony from Retro-Daze posed a question to everyone in the TRN Clubhouse. He asked if anyone had heard anything about a Pumpkin Spice Frosty. Until I read his question I had not. But I have an inside source as my youngest daughter works at Wendy’s. I immediately went to her and posed the same question. She gave me a look and said that she really wasn’t supposed to say anything. I kept staring at her until she said she didn’t know, but that a button for a Pumpkin Spice Frosty had appeared on the cash register. That was all the confirmation I needed.

I told her that when they were available I’d like to try one. Then a couple of days later the official news broke that it was indeed a thing. Fast forward to this past Sunday when she came home from work with a sample size of the new fall treat for me to try.

I want to say something before I go any further. I’m a guy who feels like there is only one kind of Frosty, and that’s the original chocolate version that we all grew up with. A few years ago they started rolling out vanilla and strawberry options, but to me, those aren’t Frostys. The only thing I have to say to defend this position is that I’m old, stubborn, and set in my ways.

Anyway, I gave this new Pumpkin Spice Frosty a try and it’s not bad. It’s certainly good enough to have another before the season is over. Mine was a little melted by the time it reached my hands so that may have something to do with my feelings on it. As in, it’s good, but not over-the-moon good. I still prefer the chocolate.

But at the same time, it’s good enough that it’s worth going to get one if you like pumpkin spice things in general. I just wish they would call their non-chocolate creations something besides a Frosty. That name should be reserved for the original. And if you want to know more about what I think about Wendy’s and its offerings through the years, you can check out my post The Things I Miss About Wendy’s. Everyone else on the internet has, and you should too.

Kool-Aid Halloween Chiller Recipe from 1982

Here is another good-looking recipe for the Halloween season, and any potential Halloween parties you may have planned. It’s a Halloween-themed punch recipe that Kool-Aid put out back in 1982. What a time to be alive it must have been when you could get Apple-flavored Kool-Aid. Now I know that this recipe calls for that Apple Kool-Aid and that it is no longer available. I also know that Green Apple Kool-Aid is sometimes hard to find. I would suggest using either Orange flavored Kool-Aid, or Lemon-Lime flavored Kool-Aid as a substitute in this recipe. I have similar punches with both of these flavors, and they always turn out great. Go with the Orange if you want an orange-colored punch, or go with the Lemon Lime if you’re looking for a green witches brew type of punch.

And since the recipe portion looks like it could be a little hard to read on a small screen, below is a blown-up version of it.

1985 VHS Recording of Halloween Cartoons

This presentation may be the one I’m most excited about in the history of Retro Ramblings. What we’ve got here is a rip of a home-recorded VHS tape that features probably the two greatest Halloween cartoons of all time. It was recorded in 1985 and features the debut airing of Garfield’s Halloween Adventure. Not only that, but it has It’s The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown right behind it. And if that wasn’t enough, it still has all of the original 1985 commercials intact as well. Everything is complete as presented by CBS as a special presentation that week in 1985! So settle in for this one and try to remember what it felt like all those years ago to view this magical night of television.

Spooky Old Comic Book Ads

We’re going back to the old comic book ad well again. Don’t worry, it’s a deep well, and I can keep going back over and over again and probably will never run out of fun/cool ads to showcase and talk about. If you’re not familiar with the concept, you can get up by checking out the previous posts looking at old comic book ads here, here, here, and here. For this edition, we’re looking at ads that have a spookier vibe than normal in celebration of the Halloween season. Let’s jump into it!

Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture (1976)

We’re starting off with this beauty from the late-’70s. The Shrunken Head Apple Sculpture Kit seems like such a weird toy to be marketed to kids, but here you go. The ad itself gives oss suffecient spooky vibes with the shrunken head itself, and the box art featuring Vincent Price. I just looked one of these kits up on eBay, and one still in the box will set you back a few hundred dollars.

Elvira T-Shirt (1986)

Elvira always fascinated me growing up. While I wasn’t anywhere close to an area to see her original show on TV, I was still well aware of her existence. From her appearance at Wrestlemania 2 to her guest-starring role on The Fall Guy the same year, I became a big fan pretty quickly. Both of those appearances took place in the same year this shirt was offered. Had I seen this offer then, I probably would have thought about picking one up.

Tales From the Crypt (1991)

Tales From the Crypt was such a great series back in the day, and I imagine it still holds up pretty well today. Did the Cryptkeeper subplant Elvira as the favored horror-themed show host when he came along? That one is worth thinking about. This ad is really nothing special in and of itself, but the Cryptkeeper is always ready for spooky glam shots. Why oh why isn’t Tales From the Crypt streaming on HBO Max? We need it in our lives for not just Halloween, but year round.

Trading Card Treats (1991)

Whoever came up with the idea of creating packs of trading cards to give out on Halloween was a genius, and a saint. What surprises me is that the idea never caught on and became a thing. When I was young and trick-or-treating on my grandmother’s street, there was an older gentleman that would give cards out instead of candy. He would purchase plenty of packs of Topps Baseball cards for the given year, and every kid that came to his door got a whole pack! His was my favorite stop every year in those days.

These Trading Card Treats were just such an awesome thing to do. The ad doesn’t specify how many cards are in a pack, nor how many packs come in a box. It’s possible that the packs/cost ratio was such that it wasn’t feasible for a lot of folks to give these out, thus killing off the idea in general. I need to search eBay and see which bags of these are available for good prices. It would be cool to give out packs of those Universal Monsters cards or Marvel Comics cards this year.

Nabisco’s Wicked Halloween Party (1998)

So back in 1998, it looks like Nabisco was throwing the coolest party on the block, and if you were lucky enough to be one of the winners, you have a story to tell for the rest of your life. The 15 Grand Prize winners got to party with the Universal Studios classic monsters and an all day tour of Universal Studios in Florida…with no waiting in any lines. That’s pretty bad ass.

Aside from the cool prize, the ad itself is great. It’s got the colors that set the mood for the season with the purple, orange, and prominent green font. The Universal Monsters are there too just so you KNOW it’s Halloween related.

Silver Shamrock Masks

So this one doesn’t really count since it isn’t a real ad. Someone put a lot of time and effort into creating such a true looking comic book ad to advertise the Silver Shamrock masks from Halloween III: Season of the Witch. Hell, this is better looking than all of the real comic book ads in this post. I just love this one so much, especially since I just watched the movie for the first time. We need more real products advertised in this fashion these days. That may be part of whats wrong with the world today.

Thanks for taking a little time out of your busy day to read about a few spooky old comic book ads. This is the fifth installment so far, and there will be plenty more to come in time.