Moonlight Masquerade is a fundraiser for the Freeport Players community theater group.

Ed Bradley at first played coy last week when asked what he will wear for a costume at Moonlight Masquerade, a Freeport Players fundraiser set for Saturday, Oct. 24. at the Freeport Community Center.

Bradley is making – not borrowing or buying – his costume.

“It will be local, it will be relevant and it will be fun,” the longtime Freeport Players member said. “I want to win the prize for the best costume, and I don’t want people to know ahead of time.”

Pressed, Bradley requested a guess. Then, he succumbed.

“I don’t deny I will dress up as a clam,” he said. “It’s going to have special effects, and other things. I might have a trail of green crabs behind me.”

Bradley was referring to a front-burner issue in town, the impact that green crabs have had on softshell clams, which has hurt one of the town’s signature industries.

But fun, as well as a source of income for the town’s community theater organization, will be the name of the game at Moonlight Masquerade. Hours after the kids have finished up their fun at the L.L. Bean Pumpkin Festival, the adults will kick it in. The Delta Knights will provide the music, an eclectic blend of classic rock, blues, R&B and swing. Local restaurants will donate refreshments, and there will be a cash bar.

Costumes are optional, but Freeport Players will make it easy for people who want to wear them. There will be a rack of theater costumes to borrow. Prizes, as Bradley noted, will be awarded for the best ones.

“I like to dress up,” he said, “and I think it will be a fun experience if people come and wear costumes. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”

Bradley said that the Moonlight Masquerade concept reminds him of the times in the 1980s and 1990s, when Freeport neighborhoods used to march in costume for the Fourth of July parade. Bradley and his friends represented East Freeport.

“We would all get out our paddles and oars and we would make believe we were paddling down Main Street,” he said. “Other neighborhoods would do their own thing, and we would have a neighborhood competition. I’m hoping that period comes back.”

Bradley’s wife, Jane, is a member of the Freeport Players committee that planned Moonlight Masquerade.

“I think it’s a great idea,” she said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity to have some fun and celebrate with some good music.”