People of all ages to are welcome at the downtown BIA's annual Halloween Spooktacular, featuring a hay maze, spinning pumpkin ride and photo booth
The Hamilton Business Improvement Area's Halloween Spooktacular will be on Oct. 27 from 5-8 p.m. in Gore Park. This is a free annual event hosted by Hamilton BIA, and this will be their fifth year running the event. There will be a variety of fun activities to get everyone into the Halloween spirit. People of all ages are welcome to attend, and costumes are encouraged.
This year, they are featuring a hay maze for attendees to navigate, a spinning pumpkin ride, face painting, an interactive pirate ship, a photo booth, a prize wheel, pumpkin decorating and a DJ dance party. Aerialists and a magician will also be roaming the park throughout the event.
The BIA started this event in 2019 because they wanted to foster community and create a space for gathering in downtown Hamilton. Every year, they try to add something new and exciting. This year, they added an interactive pirate ship and a spinning pumpkin ride.
Making it a financially accessible event for the community was very important to them, as Halloween can be an expensive event for some. They wanted everyone to be able to attend and have a good time.
“Halloween is very expensive with costumes and candy … You can come down, there's no barriers to entry. You don't have to purchase anything, just come down and have a good time,” said Emily Gilruth, the operations manager at Hamilton BIA.
Halloween is very expensive with costumes and candy. . .You can come down, there's no barriers to entry. You don't have to purchase anything, just come down and have a good time
Emily Gilruth, operations manager, Hamilton BIA
This is also a great opportunity for students to take a break during midterm season, explore downtown and have a fun time.
Overall, the BIA team hopes that every attendee will have a spooktacular time at this event and leave with a good impression of the downtown core, as they want to advocate for more people to visit there.
“I hope that they kind of leave with some fond memories, some candy, which is always nice on Halloween. But I also hope people have a positive experience of the downtown core and a desire to come back,” said Gilruth.
I hope that they kind of leave with some fond memories, some candy, which is always nice on Halloween. But I also hope people have a positive experience of the downtown core and a desire to come back.
Emily Gilruth, operations manager, Hamilton BIA
In the future, the Hamilton BIA aims to continue running this event and gradually ramp it up with more fun activities each year.
In the future, the Hamilton BIA aims to continue running this event and gradually ramp it up with more fun activities each year.
Most family neighbourhoods know that one house where the residents are really into Halloween. Before September is over they’re already setting up in the light of day knowing that in a few weeks, the cover of night and the cloak of costume will transform it into something haunted or simply spectacular.
Casey and Jen Rovinelli own that house. From when they moved into their Glenfern Avenue property in 2010, they began creating large Halloween displays such as a toxic waste dump and a UFO crash landing site. After they had kids, they decided to do something more traditional.
Traditional for them took the form of 140 carved pumpkins. The impressive display drew press attention and positive feedback from the community so the couple decided to do it again the following year for charity, raising money for the Hamilton Food Bank.
“[M]y favorite part [is] just standing up front and seeing everybody looking at the different pumpkins. It's exciting. I think it's a nice thing to have in the community that everybody sort of swings by the house, has a look,” explained Casey Rovinelli.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bb2FTSqHLaD/?taken-at=1906454469606434
For this its third year, the Rovinellis are decking their house out with 200 pumpkins, donated by Scotlynn Sweet-pac. They’ve recruited the help of about fifteen neighbours to help them carve all the pumpkins the weekend before Halloween.
This year they are collecting donations for An Instrument for Every Child (AIFEC), a key initiative of the Hamilton Music Collective. The music program pairs professional musicians with inner city children and provides instruments, introducing them to creative and improvised music.
“I think it's a great charity because it's a lean organization, it needs the money…[M]usic is one of those subjects that…[is] the first to get cut… [but] it's important to building well rounded kids so it's a nice charity to support. They need the money and they have an immediate impact on the community,” Rovinelli explained.
The house will be lit from Wednesday October 31 to Friday November 2 from 6pm-11pm. While visiting the house is free, donations are appreciated and are being accepted online and in person. Every penny will be donated to AIFEC.
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