Downtown Stratford BIA Trick-Or-Treating sees huge turnout

Christina as Gizmo from Gremlins, with Bry, Millie and Jackson as a cheerleader, Pikachu and Ghostface.

By: Emily Stewart

Families strolled around the downtown area in a variety of costumes ranging from superheroes, video games like Minecraft and Pokémon, movies like Ghostbusters and K-Pop Demon Hunters, and horror favourites like Ghostface from the Scream franchise.

The Downtown Stratford Business Improvement Area (BIA) held its annual Trick-Or-Treating event during the afternoon of Oct. 31.

"The streets are alive. It's absolutely amazing. There's families coming in with family-themed costumes. We had some Anne of Green Gables. We had a whole family of Where's Waldos,” said BIA general manager Jamie Pritchard.

In 2025, there were more than 440 kids who stopped by. In a follow up with the Stratford Times, Pritchard said that there were 823 trick-or-treaters in attendance this year.

“It is events like these that make my job an amazing one,” he said.

More than 70 businesses in the core participated in the annual event, with some running out of candy early.

"It just absolutely animates downtown, gets people in a store that they may have never been in before,” said Pritchard.