Downtown Springfield opens to Trick-or-Treaters on Friday for 7th annual event

Hundreds of creepy and cute characters filled the sidewalks and streets in downtown Springfield for the sixth annual Downtown Springfield Trick or Treat Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. Downtown merchants, community organizations and nonprofits passed out candy, Halloween characters roamed the streets and danced to music in the streets and magicians were showing off some tricks. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Credit: Bill Lackey

Credit: Bill Lackey

Hundreds of creepy and cute characters filled the sidewalks and streets in downtown Springfield for the sixth annual Downtown Springfield Trick or Treat Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. Downtown merchants, community organizations and nonprofits passed out candy, Halloween characters roamed the streets and danced to music in the streets and magicians were showing off some tricks. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Downtown Springfield will be flooded with ghouls, ghosts and goblins from 6-8 p.m. Friday for the area’s Downtown Trick-or-Treat Halloween event.

The seventh annual event, hosted by Springfield City Commissioner Tracey Tackett through her business Sip & Dipity, will include prizes for best costumes, a DJ with dance school dancers, a magician, the Hocus Pocus witches and candy.

“We’re going to have prizes given away randomly on the street for best costume; that’s new this year,” Tackett said.

A portion of South Fountain Avenue downtown south of East Columbia Street will be shut down at 4:30 p.m., Tackett said.

Tackett said there will be a heightened security presence this year, too, something that will ensure people feel safe after a swath of threats received by area schools, businesses and government agencies last month. Police and firefighters also participate in the event by handing out candy and being with the community, she said.

“We had a meeting ... with the downtown businesses and the police department, and I asked everybody if they felt comfortable doing it and they insisted on doing it,” Tackett said. “No one said no; they want the community down there.”

Businesses or individuals can donate bags of candy to be distributed to various vendors to ensure everyone has enough candy to give away.

Any businesses that wants to help set up can email info@sipanddipity.com.

Elsewhere on the Halloween front, countywide Trick-or-Treat will be held Saturday from 6-8 p.m. And Ferncliff Cemetery & Arboretum is holding its annual Mausoleum Crawl Tour on Thursday and Oct. 30, with registration starting at 5 p.m. and the tour at 6 p.m.

Hundreds of creepy and cute characters filled the sidewalks and streets in downtown Springfield for the sixth annual Downtown Springfield Trick or Treat Friday, Oct. 27, 2023. Downtown merchants, community organizations and nonprofits passed out candy, Halloween characters roamed the streets and danced to music in the streets and magicians were showing off some tricks. BILL LACKEY/STAFF

Credit: Bill Lackey

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Credit: Bill Lackey

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