PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — It was a free, safe and fun way to celebrate Halloween on Saturday afternoon. Franklin Square Park, near Independence Mall, hosted "Trick or Treat Street."
Costumed trick or treaters walked along a series of wooden Halloween cut-out houses lined up in the park. Candy was sent down chutes and into their hands or bags.
Heather Gentile of Haddon Township and her three children were there enjoying the sunny day.
"Grace was diagnosed with leukemia in the beginning of August, so we're trying to do some things that are outside and non-contact and this was perfect," she said.
Two-year-old Grace was dressed as a dog for Halloween. Her five-year-old brother Henry was a vampire, while eight-year-old John was riding a dinosaur. For John, his favorite part of the event was the candy, including 3 Musketeers.
Josie Ni of Washington Square and her family were all dressed as characters from "The Little Mermaid."
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"We do family costumes every year and it's usually centered around my daughter and the character she wants to play, so she wanted to be Ariel, so my husband was coaxed into playing King Triton. I'm Ursula and my son here - he's two - is Sebastian," she said.
Ni said the safety of this trick-or-treat option appealed to her family.
"It's socially distanced, it's COVID-safe," she said. "I think that in this day and age, you can never be too careful with your kids, but you still want them to have fun and to have a normal childhood, so I really appreciate that the park you know put on this event for everyone to partake in."
Historic Philadelphia CEO and president Amy Needle said they wanted to find a safe way to bring back Franklin Square's trick-or-treat event after COVID-19 forced changes last year.
"We created the chutes for safety [last year], but they're a lot of fun, so we said let's do it again this year," she said. "So kids come, our amazing staff sends candy down the chutes and lands in their trick-or-treat bags. We think it's a great tradition and we will probably continue it for years to come."
After filling bags with candy a lot of the trick treaters enjoyed spooky mini golf with their families.
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