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ROYAL OAK — The annual Royal Oak Spooktacular hosted hundreds of families on Oct. 20 for its 41st year.
Heather Zeller, director of events and communications in the Royal Oak Chamber of Commerce, said that the event downtown and in Centennial Commons was a spooky success.
“The weather was great this year as opposed to last year when it was chilly, so we probably had some more people just because of that,” she said.
The Spooktacular event is a place where all in the community are encouraged to dress up in their best costumes and come share the spirit of Halloween with each other.
The event was free and included trick-or-treating, face painting, magic shows and new this year, a costume contest parade.
In previous years, the Spooktacular had a costume contest, but Zeller said this year a parade was hosted to give everyone a chance to showcase their creativity.
“We did a costume contest parade this year, as opposed to just a costume contest, because there are so many kids and families that want to be involved in it,” she said. “So anybody around can pop in. Then we gave prizes from Genesis Credit Union, which were our sponsor for that.”
Zeller said Cinderella led the parade around the park, and a DJ had some music going. The first prize went to a family dressed in a Willy Wonka theme.
“They were awesome,” Zeller said.
Another addition to the Spooktacular events was a performance of “Beauty and the Beast” by Stagecrafters.
“We had a two-song showcase that they performed, and then Belle and the Beast hosted a story time and had a meet and greet afterwards,” she said. “That was a fantastic addition. People loved that.”
Royal Oak resident Jenny Kowalskowski said that the Stagecrafters performance brought a new level of fun to the festival.
“Our family had an amazing time at the Spooktacular Halloween event in downtown Royal Oak this year. The organizers keep outdoing themselves, and the addition of the Stagecrafters Beauty and the Beast cast brought a whole new level of excitement,” Kowalskowski said. “It has become a must attend event for the community.”
Zeller believes that the event is one that will stay popular for years to come and bring the community together.
“I think that event is just a true community event. It’s a free event, which helps. We have free face painting, free candy, free popcorn,” she said.
Looking forward to next year, Zeller said the Chamber of Commerce is going to meet and figure out more new and exciting additions to the Spooktacular.
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