UNION SPRINGS - There were clowns washing cars and witches dishing out beans. Count Dracula sold brownies and Elvis separated dinner rolls.

Beverly Lader, 41, whose bulbous red clown's nose was pulled above the brim of her oversized top hat while she got down to business washing cars, summarized the event.

“A Halloween party!” she exclaimed, her synthetic lavender locks fanning around her face as a gust of wind blew through on an ominous-looking Halloween afternoon.

Yes, it was a Halloween party. But more than that it was a barbecue/bake sale/car wash party thrown by Unity House as a fundraiser for its mental retardation and developmental disability program.

“They have a lot of things done for them,” said assistant program director Jessica Janssen. “This promotes their independence.”

Unity House residents receive daily assistance with cooking, cleaning and transportation. But Saturday they served chicken barbecue dinners, sold baked goods and hosed down cars at the Union Springs Fire House. They had spent the week leading up to the event helping make brownies, cookies and other sweets for the bake sale.

The money raised at the event will go toward a special event for residents. Janssen did not want to ruin the surprise, but said the event would mean more to residents if they knew they had contributed to making it happen.

“They can say, ‘We made this possible for ourselves,' ” Janssen said.

James Greene, 34, said he was more than happy to help out washing cars. In fact, he said he enjoyed it quite a bit and took pleasure in making sure the cars were spotless when they left.

Inside the firehouse, Greene took a few minutes during his break to describe his Halloween costume, which he was not wearing for fear of ruining it while washing cars.

“I'm the Hulk,” Greene said. “He's big. But not like Superman.” That idea was taken by someone else at the party, Greene said.

Barbecue chicken was cooked up and donated by the Union Springs fire fighters. At a long table inside the fire house, a gold and black witch scooped baked beans onto plates; Batman took care of the potatoes.

David Greene was dressed as Elvis, complete with a shiny white jumpsuit, a gold sequined tie and a tousled black bouffant atop his otherwise gray hair.

Greene said he had helped earlier by breaking apart dinner rolls and wrapping them individually in plastic bags. But now, he said he was just being Elvis, “walkin' the scene.”

Staff writer Sarah Gantz can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 237 or sarah.gantz@lee.net