Halloween events draws hundreds to downtown

Anita the Tavern Witch was busy providing stamps outside the Copper Mug for participants in the Tillsonburg BIA’s Witch’s Night Out last Thursday. The event saw hundreds of witches, warlocks, ghouls and goblins invade downtown Tillsonburg and the Station Arts Centre for the Moon Market. (Jeff Helsdon Photo)

Jeff Helsdon, Editor

Witches, ghouls, goblins and superheroes by the hundreds descended on downtown for Halloween events that spanned a full week.

Halloween festivities began Friday, Oct. 23, with the opening of The Haunt. This volunteer-run haunted house, done on a grand scale, took place on the second floor of the Tillsonburg Town Center. It continued the next day with a less scary youth version, while Downtown Spookytown ran for younger trick-or-treaters from 2 to 5 p.m., then ramped up to full-level scare for the evening.

Vanessa Fortner, Events and Marketing Coordinator for the BIA, said 1,915 people came through The Haunt, some from as far as London. With admission at either $2 or a canned non-perishable food item, the event raised $2,748 for the Hub at the Salvation Army, plus four to five shopping carts of non-perishable food items.

Attendance increased from last year and continues its steady climb.

Asked the reason for the increase, Fortner said, “A big part of it is marketing. We’ve been pushing it a lot more on socials, but it’s also building its reputation.”

Estimates put attendance between 1,500 and 1,800 people who converged downtown for Downtown Spookytown trick-or-treating at the stores. Fortner said some businesses went through 800 to 1,000 treats, while one reported 1,200. Parents weren’t included in that count.

“For three hours, that’s pretty big,” she said.

Thursday night was Witches Night Out in Tillsonburg, where witches descended on downtown, seeking special drinks at bars and shopping at retailers that stayed open late. New this year was a booklet that participants had stamped to form a bingo line to enter in a contest. Fortner said more than 300 booklets were handed out.

The Moon Market

This year marked the first time the Station Arts Centre held its Moon Market in conjunction with BIA activities. The event featured 13 different vendors, with wares ranging from pottery and fiber arts to woodworking. Multiple sites were set up for witches to grab a photo, in partnership with Garden Gate. Special ‘Witch’s Brew’ was available in both alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions in conjunction with Chrissy’s Catering and the Kinsmen Club, and a DJ played spooky and dance music.

“There were people lined up waiting to get in,” said Cailey Coderre, the station’s social media lead, who was dressed up as the Scarlett Witch for the evening.

Station Arts Centre Executive Director Tabitha Verbuyst estimated in excess of 500 people came through for the night.

“I would say it went really well,” she said. “It was a great opportunity for people in the community who have never been in the Station Arts Centre, or wanted to go visit the Station Arts Centre and haven’t, to see it for the first time.”

She is hopeful that will pay dividends down the road and people will return.

Verbuyst believes the passport system worked well and encouraged participants to explore all of downtown.

“We do a lot of things around the holiday season; it was good to do something with the Halloween season,” she said.

Asked about the most popular costume for the night, Verbuyst pointed to the witch.

“In partnership with the BIA event, that was the go-to costume, but we’ve seen a lot of different costumes,” she said.

A growing success

Halloween has become a big thing in downtown Tillsonburg, with only Turtlefest being larger. Fortner started downtown Halloween activities when she began with the BIA four years ago. She believes it’s one of the largest downtown Halloween celebrations in the area.

“A lot of BIAs do the trick-or-treating downtown, but in terms of the haunted house and Witches Night Out, I haven’t seen anything locally run by a BIA,” she said.

Denying a spell was cast on the people of Tillsonburg and area to attract them to the event, she did agree, “It’s catching on . . .”

Fortner is already looking forward to next year’s Halloween.