Hundreds of children and their parents went to Mall-o-Ween at the Holyoke Mall.
Children register for the costume contest at the Mall-o-Ween event at the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside.HOLYOKE – Briana Banas said her family always celebrates Halloween “old school” with children going trick-or-treating in her neighborhood.
But on Monday the Ludlow resident and a friend drove their two 8-year-old girls and two 12-year-old boys to the Holyoke Mall at Ingleside, where they could go store-to-store to collect candy.
“The snow wouldn’t have deterred it. It was the darkness and the tree limbs that are still hanging down that is scary,” Banas said.
With nearly 100 percent of Ludlow without power, Banas said the Mall-o-Ween event was the best option.
“It is still fun and they got to do the costumes and collect some candy,” she said.
The trick-or-treating at the mall is a tradition that dates back to the mall’s 1979 opening. Store owners volunteer to hand out candy, and there is a costume contest, said Lisa L. Wray, marketing director for the mall.
Most city and town officials recommended children stay home on Halloween because of hanging wires, downed branches and widespread power outages caused by the weekend snowstorm. The mall was the last option for children to continue celebrating a favorite holiday, especially since many parties were canceled and the Eastfield Mall, which also offers trick-or-treating, was closed.
Holyoke Mayor Elaine A. Pluta recommended against trick-or-treating and Patty McKinnon, of Holyoke, was going to call it quits, but her 5-year-old daughter Keira, who was dressed as a gypsy, begged to go. Her son Liam, 2, was dressed as a firefighter.
From left Myia Gilday, 6, of Springfield, Tyrus Traska, 4, of Westfield and Bri-anna Gilday, 4, of Springfield, participate in Mall-o-Ween at the Holyoke Mall.“School got canceled so there was no party there,” she said.
Several other communities delayed trick-or-treating. Northampton canceled the Halloween Rag Shag parade and postponed citywide Halloween festivities until Nov. 5. Chicopee also moved trick-or-treating to Saturday and Amherst is postponing trick-or-treating until Sunday.
Springfield Mayor Domenic J. Sarno recommended that parents keep their children home on Halloween a day before the event. Officials in Longmeadow, East Longmeadow, Monson and Wilbraham did the same on Monday.
“We can’t have people walking on the streets with all the wires down, it’s just too dangerous,” Hampden Selectman Vincent Villamaino said.
As a result the mall was packed with skeletons, princesses, witches and super heroes. Traffic was backed up onto Interstate 91 from people trying to reach the mall.
“We had calls from as far away as Connecticut,” said Jennifer Serra, guest relations manager. Just 45 minutes into the event more than 500 children had signed up to compete in the costume contest.
Carrie Al-Rekaby, of Huntington, said she has brought her step-daughter Alison Duval, 6, to the mall before to go trick-or-treating but had never seen it so crowded.
“Usually we can go through in an hour,” she said.
Alison didn’t seem to mind the wait. She was happy to show off her butterfly costume and light-up sneakers.
“I think it is awesome and we get a lot of candy,” she said.