Ken Kellar
Spooktober fans rejoice, Halloween 2020 will be coming to Fort Frances after all.
Following news that the Fort Frances Public Library Technology Centre would be unable to put on their annual Trunk or Treat celebrations this year due to COVID-19 restrictions, at a meeting on Friday the library and Legion Ladies Auxiliary Branch #29 announced they had joined forces with other community partners to offer a Children’s Halloween Drive-Through and Virtual Party beginning at 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 31.
While certain aspects of the plan are still being finalized, parents and kids will be encouraged to dress up in costumes, get together in the vehicle and stop off at several different locations around town where community members will have set up a drive-through treat stop. Volunteers at each stop will hand off pre-made gift bags for each participant in the vehicle in order to keep physical distancing to a maximum.
Volunteers are currently planned to be set up at the Library, the Fort Frances Legion, Rainycrest, Flinders Place, Green and Rose Manor.
Following the drive-through portion of the evening, the Legion Ladies Auxiliary will hold a virtual Halloween party beginning at 7:00 p.m. the same night for families and children to take part in. The virtual party will have a trivia contest as well as a household scavenger hunt with prizes available to be won.
Meanwhile, since half the fun of Halloween is dressing up, the Legion Ladies Auxiliary will also be holding a number of costume and car decorating contests for kids to take part in. Participants for the costume contests will be asked to take a photo of their costumes or cars all done up for Halloween and to post the pictures to the Ladies Auxiliary Facebook page to be entered to win prizes in several categories.
In order to help make this event a success, those wishing to take part will be required to pre-register by commenting on the Legion Ladies Auxiliary Facebook page in order to determine a somewhat accurate estimate for how many bags will need to be made up. The Legion will also be accepting donations of Halloween candy and treats in order to ensure that treat bags can be given to each registered participant.
While some details are still up in the air and could change from the initial meeting to the event itself on Halloween night, the Ladies Legion Auxiliary and library, along with other community partners, were keen to ensure some kind of Halloween could take place.
“”I think it’s going to be a great joint adventure,” said Legion Ladies Auxiliary member Christina McDougall.
“We just didn’t want to see Halloween cancelled altogether.”
The next planning meeting for the Children’s Halloween Drive-Through and Virtual Party is scheduled to take place on Friday, October 3.
