From left, Okemos residents Grady, 8, and Calder Buehler, 5, look around at the events of the Great Pumpkin Walk on Thursday night. Residents from surrounding cities came into East Lansing to trick or treat on Grand River Avenue.
When elementary education junior Megan Sexton and media and communication technology senior Erin Southers went to grab a bite to eat on Grand River Avenue on Thursday night, they didn’t expect to see superheroes, monsters and princesses.
The girls had happened upon the city’s annual Great Pumpkin Walk, an opportunity for young children and their families to trick-or-treat at the doors of local businesses on Grand River Avenue.
“We saw the kids dressed in adorable costumes, and we decided to cruise and check it out,” Southers said.
Sponsored by the Downtown Management Board, the Great Pumpkin Walk has been a staple in East Lansing Halloween celebrations for more than 15 years, board director Heather Pope said in an email.
Clad in matching homemade skeleton costumes, the Romney family paraded down the street among other costumed characters in style with bags of candy in tow.
Miles and Amy Romney and their four children, all age six and under, who moved to East Lansing from San Diego this summer, already had fallen in love with the idea of the Great Pumpkin Walk.
Amy Romney said the family plans to come back next year.
“We love this — we’re glad we came and we hope they never stop doing it,” Amy Romney said.
Pope said a majority of downtown East Lansing businesses participate in the event with about 1,000 trick-or-treaters taking part each year. The experience gives residents a chance to stop by businesses they might not have been to before, she said.
“This is a very popular event with community members,” Pope said. “It is another opportunity for people to see all of the unique shops and restaurants that we have in downtown East Lansing.”
As he helped his colleague pass out Tootsie Rolls to a steady stream of costumed children, Curious Book Shop manager Mark Wojcik said the Great Pumpkin Walk always is a fun event and helps keep the downtown businesses on the minds of those attending.
“They don’t really have time to see the business very much — they come in about 10 feet, and then they have to get out again — but we give out coupons with the candy too, and I think that helps a lot,” Wojcik said.
Sexton said she wished she would had the opportunity to take part in a similar event when she was younger.
“It’s good for kids because they get to dress up and get more candy in a safe environment,” she said. “It’s like a second night of Halloween.”
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