Lansing resident Sierra Valdez and her 2-year-old son Alexander Valdez visit Bobbers the Clown for Halloween at Eastwood Towne Center, 3003 Preyde Blvd. Many of the shops opened their doors to trick-or-treaters.
A safe environment for parents is as important as candy for children — which is why Bath resident Mary Kolund decided to take her son trick-or-treating Wednesday at Eastwood Towne Center, 3003 Preyde Blvd., in Lansing.
“It’s a controlled environment, so it just makes you feel a bit better,” Kolund said. “This is awesome — we’ll definitely be back next year.”
While the event is usually held the day before Halloween, it landed on the 31st this year as a sort of experiment, said Erica Capetillo, receptionist for Eastwood Towne Center.
“We wanted to see the difference between traffic,” she said. “We didn’t know if there would be more or less traffic doing it actually on Halloween, and the next year we can compare the two.”
Although traffic may be a problem, attendance is not. Last year, Eastwood Towne Center had about 6,000 people come out for the Halloween events, Capetillo said.
“It’s a really big event,” said Derrick Austin, general manager of McAlister’s Deli, 2901 Preyde Blvd. “Almost every store in the area gives out candy, and there’s kids galore.”
Bringing about 6,000 people into the area also makes people more aware of the local businesses, Austin said.
“We usually get a little pop afterward,” he said. “We get a lot of the parents coming in with their kids.”
Out of 65 stores in the area, only five stores did not participate this year, Capetillo said.
Children could pick up their trick-or-treating bags at a vacant store between McAlister’s Deli and Kirlin’s Hallmark, 2911 Preyde Blvd. Eastwood does this in order to utilize as much space as possible, Capetillo said.
“We’re using as much vacant room as we can because it spreads everyone around,” she said.
With so many people swarming around Eastwood, they made sure there were plenty of activities going on to entertain everyone. Free donuts and cider were passed out in the Center Court area, along with clowns making balloon animals for children.
Free food wasn’t the only perk of attending this year — Tutor Time Child Care and Learning Center brought a haunted bus to the event, which is geared for younger children.
“We really like doing community events,” said Mandi Boes, director of Tutor Time, 2273 Club Meridian Dr., in Okemos. “Anything with kids involved is a great experience.
“It’s also fun to just see all the costumes.”
This is the second year Tutor Time has come out to the trick-or-treating event, but their itinerary was slightly different this time around.
“We’ve done scary stories in the past,” Boes said. “But we realized at last year’s event that it’s a bit too early for those, so we cut that from our program.”
Even without scary stories, Tutor Time has plenty of activities for children including face painting and free candy.
“We played safe a little bit this year, since two of our three sites are under new management,” Boes said.
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