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Philly-themed Halloween costumes: From Narcan to a pothole

From a critic to a key card, Philly's best costumes this year had local ties.

Owen, 11, of Havertown, with Rob Dunphy, the inspiration for his Halloween costume.
Owen, 11, of Havertown, with Rob Dunphy, the inspiration for his Halloween costume.Read moreCourtesy of Kati Sullivan / Kati Sullivan

As Kati Sullivan talked with her 11-year-old son, Owen, about what he wanted to be for Halloween this year, the boy thought back to when his family — like the nation — was mesmerized by an uber-sports fan whose shirtless chest and Philly tattoos were featured during the Eagles game against the Green Bay Packers last month.

“He said ‘I want to be the tattoo guy,’” Sullivan recalled.

The family debated about whether to draw the tattoos directly on Owen’s chest but opted instead to get a flesh-colored cotton shirt from Amazon and draw the tattoos on there.

Sullivan, of Havertown, then sewed a t-shirt underneath and stuffed it with pillow fluff to accurately capture the physique of Philly tattoo superstar Rob Dunphy.

Owen was bummed he didn’t win the trunk-or-treat costume contest he attended last Friday, but when his dad posted a picture of the costume on Facebook it went viral and resulted in a meet-up this week between Owen and his costume inspiration, Dunphy.

“My son is a really big sports fan, like all 11-year-old boys,” Sullivan said. “So they talked sports the whole time they were together.”

And on Halloween day, Owen wore his Dunphy costume to school.

Here are a few of our other favorite locally-themed Halloween costumes this year:

A pothole

Nothing unites Philadelphians like our disdain of potholes. Whether you drive, bike, or bus you’ve had an intimate encounter with one.

One citizen took their anger with potholes to the next level by dressing as a pothole for Halloween.

We give this costume two popped tires and three curse words!

Narcan

To date, Rosalind Pichardo, 41, has reversed 198 heroin overdoses with Narcan in her Kensington neighborhood.

So while her choice to dress as Narcan for Halloween may seem dark, Pichardo said it’s really the opposite. She’s wearing the costume to lead trainings where she’s teaching others to use Narcan — and she’s handing out Narcan instead of candy to participants.

She said writing “Narcan saves lives” on her costume has also gotten people who are unfamiliar with Narcan to come up and ask her what it is.

“I’m just bringing awareness in a way that’s different and gets people to ask questions,” she said.

Four bells

Here at the Inquirer, one of our colleagues decided to keep the theme of her costume hyper local by dressing up as none other than restaurant critic Craig LaBan’s column photo.

Our eyes were as big as dinner plates when we saw this costume, which is not only incredibly creative — but (bonus points) also incredibly easy. Unlike getting four bells.

LaBan was genuinely humbled by the honor. We swear he did not spoon-feed her the idea.

Spotted lanternflies

What’s scarier than a spider and brings out the most base, violent urges in residents across the region?

Spotted lanternflies.

Terrifying.

Plastic bags

Ron Whyte really has this whole costume thing in the bag.

If you’ve lived in Philly for any amount of time, you’ve definitely seen more than a few plastic bags swirling around the sidewalks.

So here’s to you, Ron Whyte, for raising awareness and raising the costume game. Next time someone asks us: paper or plastic? We’ll be sure to ask: costume or bag?

Hart as a Rock

While this costume isn’t Philly-themed, the man behind it is so we’re making an exception.

There’s so much fanny-packed into this costume it’s hard to pick our favorite part. Kevin Hart really rocked it this Halloween.

The key to the city

This Halloween costume may be smarter than the actual card itself.

We just hope it didn’t cost her $200 million.