By MARK SARDELLA
WAKEFIELD — There will be some changes to this year’s town-wide Halloween celebration, which will be expanded to the entire weekend of Oct. 27-30. “Wakefield Haunted Happenings” will be a collaboration between the Wakefield Merchants organization and the Wakefield Chamber of Commerce.
In the past, the very popular “Spooktacular” downtown trick-or-treating event took place on the Thursday before Halloween and quickly grew to incorporate the Wakefield High School Art Department’s “Fright Night,” with the lighting of decorated pumpkins on the steps of Beebe Library and the showing of student produced scary movies at the Galvin Middle School.
This year, the Wakefield Haunted Happenings will kick off on Thursday evening with the traditional Fright Night events and conclude on Sunday, Oct. 30 with the closing of Albion Street from Main Street to North Avenue from 2 to 4 p.m. for trick-or-treating, crafts, food and games. In between, on Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29, many downtown merchants and restaurants will host Halloween specials and events for their customers and the community.
At the request of the organizers, the selectmen have approved the closing of Albion Street for the Sunday afternoon events. Also participating will be Greenwood Plaza, which will be partially closed to cars and traffic on Sunday afternoon, Oct. 30.
In a letter to the Board of Selectmen on behalf of the Wakefield Merchants, Kidcasso Art Studio owner Laura-Marie Small explained last year’s Fright Night drew 2,500 children to the downtown, prompting safety concerns. So the merchants began talking about possible ways to redesign the event to provide a safe, nurturing, fun Halloween inspired experience for families with children up to about 10 years old.
The closing of Albion Street on Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. will allow for an “old-fashioned Halloween party,” complete with stilt walkers, jugglers, face-painting, apple-bobbing, festive games and, of course, candy.
The Albion Street route will be thematically designed to slow guests down to connect and experience the event in a way that they have not been able to do in past trick-or-treating events. The closing of Albion Street to vehicular traffic will promote a safe, educational and fun place for families to interact, according to the organizers of Wakefield Haunted Happenings.
Half of Greenwood Plaza will also be closed to cars and traffic on Sunday afternoon in order to create an “experience-based” program of fun for families featuring a moon jump, games and crafts in the closed section.
The Wakefield Chamber of Commerce has generously agreed to pay for police details for the Sunday afternoon events on Albion Street and Greenwood Plaza.
The selectmen agreed to close Albion Street from Main Street to North Avenue as early as noon on Sunday, Oct. 30, so that organizers can set up.
