Halloween Fun Fest comes back to St. Clair Shores

ST. CLAIR SHORES — Halloween Fun Fest is back with all the treats you want and no tricks.

Councilwoman and Mayor Pro Tem Candice Rusie said the event, held at Veterans Memorial Park, 32400 Jefferson Ave., used to be called Halloween in the Park.

Kids can trick-or-treat in various time slots on Oct. 20. There will be vendors set up all along the park passing out candy.

“It’s a nice little walk through the park with your family, collecting candy, kids wear their Halloween costumes, sometimes adults dress up and it’s just a fun little Halloween celebration for the community,” Rusie said.

The time slots are 12:30 p.m. to 1 p.m., 1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m., 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m., 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., 2:30 p.m. to 3 p.m., 3 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Parks and Recreation Event Director Henry Bowman said the first half hour is allotted for children with special needs. Other features of the event include a petting zoo, the Bubble Witches, cider and donuts, pumpkin carving and a photo booth.

“So it’s a really nice event,” Bowman said. “And we bring through 400 kids every half hour.”

They get around 2,400 kids for the whole event. According to a post on the St. Clair Shores Parks and Recreation Facebook page, wristbands are $3 each and can be purchased at the Parks and Recreation office on 20000 Stephens Road. There is no rain date and refunds will be issued if the event is canceled.

Rusie said there will be a set amount of wristbands sold for each half hour.

“They used to have the event open to everyone where people just showed up and paid at the door and that’s really tough for the vendors because we wouldn’t have any idea how many kids to expect so we wouldn’t know how much candy to bring,” Rusie said. “Which results in some vendors, unfortunately, running out during the event.”

Rusie said she is one of the vendors at the event with Councilman John Caron. She called it a fun event.

“Kids really enjoy the opportunity to participate,” Rusie said.

Caron said both Rusie and he set up inflatable Halloween decorations for children to enjoy. Caron brings around 40 to 60 and Rusie brings over 100. This started around 10 years ago.

“It tends to be the largest inflatable display of probably any city event in the country and we do that just because it is great to see the reactions on the kids’ faces when they see all of them,” Caron said.

He went on to say the children get to see the inflatables up close. He rotates the inflatables from year to year, but the one staple in his collection is a vampire that opens and closes its tombstone.

“That’s a part of it every year just because the kids love to see the animation part of it,” Caron said.

He said he has fun at the event each year.

“Everything is focused on the kids, and to have this big event that we have each year and it’s totally safe for the kids to come out and enjoy is always fun to see,” Caron said.