Eugene’s Halloween Downtown affords spooky sights and enjoyable this Saturday

EUGENE, Ore. — The City of Eugene’s signature Halloween celebration is returning for its eleventh yr this Saturday from midday to 4 p.m.

Halloween Downtown is considered one of Eugene’s hottest neighborhood occasions, drawing greater than 11,000 guests in 2024. The occasion encompasses a lot of the downtown core with actions catering to each younger youngsters and adults.

David Dickinson, Cultural Services’ senior downtown occasions and allow coordinator, and Program Coordinator Kerry Weeks, have been working for a number of months to plan the occasion, and so they emphasize the significance of their partnerships with native artists, nonprofit organizations and downtown retailers to make it doable.

“We have assembled quite the Justice League of spooky artist talent,” Dickinson mentioned, who has nicknamed the group Team Spooky. “There’s the animatronic zombie maker, the costumer, the theater guy, the illustrator, the multi-disciplinary artist they relate to the Team Spooky group identity as helping drive Halloween Downtown, but also laying a foundation for local Halloween tourism.”

Fifteen native artists have created over 30 scary sights, or Frightful Features, that will likely be scattered all through the occasion. These options will present a wide range of experiences that vary from picture ops and animatronic creatures to troupes of musicians and actors that have interaction with the group. Participants can vote for his or her favourite Frightful Feature to win the coveted Candy Corn Crown. Each function additionally shows a scavenger hunt code that guests can gather to earn raffle tickets for an opportunity to win prizes donated by downtown retailers.

More than 60 downtown companies are providing trick-or-treating at some point of the occasion. Participating places may be recognized by orange sweet corn flags hanging outdoors their storefronts. An entire record of trick-or-treat addresses may be discovered on the event website.

The fan-favorite pet parade will likely be returning this yr, beginning at 2 p.m. Anyone who needs to hitch the parade with their costumed critter can fill out a waiver on the Greenhill Outreach Booth, positioned on the southwest nook of Eighth Avenue and Willamette Street from noon-1:45 p.m. on the day of the occasion.

A brand new function this yr would be the lineup of stay leisure.

“We’re bringing the main stage back to Kesey Square,” Weeks mentioned. “We have some really funny comedians who are going to be our emcees. Mitra Gruell, who puts on the Hallowild Show, will do a 30-minute fashion show.” Quite a lot of different performances will fill the stage all through the afternoon.

Other highlights embrace a haunted market with distributors from Whiteaker Community Market, meals vehicles, children’ actions and particular promotions from downtown companies.

Dickinson and Weeks say they’re grateful for all of the neighborhood help that contributed to the occasion, particularly from this yr’s sponsors: Eugene Weekly, Lookout Eugene-Springfield, Killer Burger Downtown Eugene, Ebb and Flow Boutique, Porterhouse Clothing and Supply, Renewal by Anderson and Thrive Services.

“It’s mostly about relationships,” Weeks mentioned. “It’s hundreds of relationships that we are interacting with and nurturing during this time. That, in itself, builds a lot of community. It’s really beautiful.”

Halloween Downtown is going down noon-4 p.m. Oct. 25. Visitors are inspired to put on costumes and begin their journey at any of the occasion’s 4 data cubicles, the place they’ll decide up a duplicate of the Monstrous Map of the Macabre to make use of as a information for the out there actions. Information cubicles will likely be positioned on the intersections of Eighth Avenue and Willamette Street, Broadway and Charnelton Street, Broadway and Oak Street, and East tenth Avenue and Olive Street.

For extra particulars, go to https://eugene-or.gov/4643/Halloween-Downtown.