Yellowknife (Oct 29/04) - Carolyn Mark can't stop laughing. Whether she's talking about Folk on the Rocks, Halloween costumes or the weather, her conversations are punctuated with laughter.

One of the things she remembers most from her stint as co-emcee at the main stage of Folk on the Rocks this summer was the kids burying themselves in sand in front of the stage.

Carolyn Mark performed and emceed at this summer's Folk on the Rocks festival. She's back in town tomorrow night with her New Best Friends for the festival's Halloween dance. - photo courtesy of Jeremy Childs

"I'd look down and just see torsos sticking out of the ground," she said.

That seems like a fitting segue to talk about the Folk on the Rocks Halloween Dance 25th anniversary fundraiser tomorrow night, at which Mark will perform her brand of bluegrass meets torch songs meets jazz with a sense of humour. She refers to the dance as a "Halloween hoedown."

"Halloween is my favourite party time," said Mark.

Though when it comes to Halloween costumes, the Victoria-based performer says folks in showbiz have to work harder.

"I get to dress up all the time," she said. "It's hard to top that."

But she's batting a few costume ideas around. She might go as corn. Her favourite costume of all time was the year she went out as a jilted prom queen. She has also been a bic pen and a horse.

Mark didn't go trick or treating as a child growing up on a farm in B.C.

"I lived in the middle of nowhere," she said. "We weren't allowed."

But she tried to make up for it by going door to door in costume while attending university. Other than commenting on her height, neighbours were pretty benevolent, she said.

Since their Yellowknife performances this summer, Carolyn Mark and the Roommates have changed their name to Carolyn Mark and the New Best Friends. The name change reflects the band's changing make-up.

"We're down a roommate," said Mark. "And the band keeps expanding."

After Folk on the Rocks, Mark toured Ontario in August to promote her new album The Pros and Cons of Collaboration, drove from Winnipeg to Victoria, and performed in Toronto, Montreal and New York.

The Sir John Franklin Jazz Band will open for Mark. The doors open at the Weledeh gym at 8 p.m.

There'll be party games and prizes for the best costumes.