Spider-Man and his arch-nemesis Venom were spotted swinging around downtown Madison yesterday, perched on the glassy sides of the new office building at Main and Pinckney streets on Capitol Square. For just one day, the pair set aside their differences and focused on the task at hand of washing windows. As would be expected on the eve of Halloween, they were a hit with the pedestrians passing by all day long.
Inside the superhero and supervillain costumes were Pat Roper and Jeff Henderson, respectively, who regularly work cleaning the buildings on Block 89 while balancing on the end of a rope. On October 30, though, they decided to have some fun in the spirit of Halloween.
"Everybody calls us Spider-Man on the job," says Henderson once he's back on the sidewalk, "so we just decided it would be a nice idea to dress up in these costumes." He notes that people shot photos of the pair all day long, not only from the sidewalks but from inside the bank building as well. A dozen photos of the pair scaling its glass face can be viewed in the gallery above.
The sight was Halloween as it should be, a flash of the unexpected that makes perfect sense once you stop and look at it. Set aside all of the hype over State Street, countless parties, trick-or-treating, and seasonal store displays only a day away from installing St. Nick, this was the holiday at its most basic, a simple transgression of the ordinary that cracks smiles and gets people talking.
"This is the first time we've done this," declares Henderson, "but it won't be the last."
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