Ghouls and goblins will be running amok up and down M.A.C. Avenue on Friday evening as part of this year’s Safe Halloween program.
From 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Oct. 27, M.A.C. Avenue will be brightly lit and blocked off from Burcham Drive to Elizabeth Street to provide a safe environment for area parents to take their children trick-or-treating. The event is sponsored by MSU Greek Life, ASMSU and the city of East Lansing.
Amy Schwartz, external relations chairwoman for the Panhellenic Council and coordinator of the event, hopes for more than 1,000 area children attend.
“I think it’s a great cause for students to get involved in,” Schwartz said. “There is a lot of preparation involved, but it’s worth it to see the looks on the kids’ faces and the feedback from the parents about how comfortable they feel bringing their children to an event like this.”
This will be Safe Halloween’s fourth year, she said.
Next year Schwartz plans to ask more East Lansing organizations and businesses to get involved.
Kendall Sykes, chairperson of the ASMSU Student Assembly, said they have funded the event for the past two years.
ASMSU is MSU’s undergraduate student government.
“This is a great way to extend a hand to the East Lansing community,” Sykes said. “The idea is to try and give the children the safest possible environment for Halloween.”
ASMSU donated $750 to help MSU Greek Life reach out to the community, he said.
“Things have changed, nowadays you can’t send your kids out alone, and you have to check their candy,” Sykes said. “We want to try to give kids as safe a Halloween as we had when we were kids.”
Along with ASMSU, the city of East Lansing donated $500 for the preparation of the event.
Tiffany Finlan, Panhellenic Council president, said seeing the children grinning from ear to ear puts the “kid” back in her.
“I expect it to be a really great time. It’s so nice to see kids in the community enjoying themselves without the threat of cars or strangers,” Finlan said. “It makes you feel good to give something back to the community and the MSU campus.”
As part of the evening, candy, bags, games and refreshments will be supplied to all of the participating trick-or-treaters.
East Lansing resident Philip Shepard said he has a grandchild around trick-or-treating age and the idea of the Safe Halloween program appeals to him.
“It sounds like a fine idea to me and could be very useful in bringing the campus and the community closer together,” Shepard said. “It’s always nice when you get people across generations together like this.”
