The city of Bryan is treating the community this holiday weekend with its second “Halloweentown In Downtown.”
Taking place this Friday, Oct. 29, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Main Street, Destination Bryan, Bryan Broadcasting and Candy 95 radio are collaborating to sponsor Halloweentown In Downtown, a family-friendly event with free trick-or-treating, crafts, a photo station and kid-friendly fun.
Destination Bryan’s public relations and communications manager Abigail Noel said Destination Bryan was initially approached by Bryan Broadcasting last year about the event.
“Bryan Broadcasting normally held a trick-or-treating event at the George Bush Library, which was unfortunately closed this time last year,” Noel said. “They were looking for an outdoor space to host the church or trick-or-treat event and immediately thought of Downtown Bryan. We’re really excited that it’s continuing this year. It’s a fun way to get the community downtown to enjoy Halloween festivities.”
Along with the festive activities for kids, Noel said Bryan business owners are very excited to have the community come downtown to trick-or-treat and visit their stores and restaurants throughout the evening.
“A lot of the businesses will have trick-or-treat booths — they’re really having a lot of fun with it,” Noel said. “We also have a little contest between the vendor booths for the most creative decorations of their booth, and there will be a little bit of a contest between them with a fun trophy. They’re super excited to be involved.”
The Destination Bryan team has been thoroughly preparing for the event, Noel said, buying plenty of candy for trick-or-treating and working with its various partners involved in the Halloweentown event.
“We did the event last year; we thought we had plenty of candy. We ran out super fast, so we’ve doubled the candy amount this year,” Noel said. “All the vendor stations and the food stations that are involved in trick-or-treating, [we’ve been] getting them signed up and ready to go. It’s a really popular event, even though it’s only a second year. We’ve had people ask me about it back in like August if we were doing it again. We’re really excited to bring it back.”
Education director at The Children’s Museum of the Brazos Valley Jenna Dworkin said the museum, along with Purple Turtle Art Studio, is going to have Halloween-themed crafts for the kids at the event.
“We’ll also be there handing out candy as well,” Dworkin said. “Monster bookmarks are the craft that we’re making. We’ll be located next to Purple Turtle Studio, who are also providing crafts.”
Candy 95 radio host Katy Dempsey said the event was almost too popular last year. Now that people are more open to gathering and doing activities in person, Downtown Bryan decided to do the event again and to take it to the next level.
“It was our brainchild,” Dempsey said. “We are so fortunate that Destination Bryan came to partner with us on it, because they have been able to provide all of the fun stuff. We just wanted another safe and free trick-or-treating event for kids. A lot of nonprofits are participating, which is great exposure for them as well.”
Dempsey said Halloweentown In Downtown really emphasizes community, and that the enthusiastic investments from the community and the events’ sponsors are allowing it to be much bigger than last year.
“We’re serving the children, but also putting nonprofits in front of their parents,” Dempsey said. “We added a Kid Zone this year, so we’re going to have the Kids Characters dressed up. [Candy 95] hosts the costume contest side of things, which we’re always really excited about because we know that kids and their parents put a lot of effort into these kids’ costumes. We’re just really excited for another great year. People were just invested in the [Halloweentown] from the jump.”