In light of the block party, Athens still has many ways for children to enjoy Halloween
Ohio University students and the nation have a particular idea of what Halloween means in Athens — a night of drunken debauchery.
Even so, the tradition of children dressing up and gallivanting around a neighborhood in search of sweet treats still persists and even thrives.
“The community has gone out of its way to provide family-friendly opportunities to balance out the larger block party,” said Andrew Holzaepfel, senior associate director of the Campus Involvement Center. “There is an abundance of opportunities for trick-or-treating.”
The children get their own Court Street celebration when the Uptown Business Association closes off Court Street for a few hours so businesses can hand out candy.
Holzaepfel has two children, Jayden, 9, and Nina, 11, and said he enjoys the Uptown event because he can take his kids on Court Street without worrying about inappropriate sights.
“I don’t have to worry about what costumes we’re going to run into, especially with little kids,” he said. “It’s always a concern on block party weekend. You never know what you’ll run into even at 6:30 p.m. … We just view (the block party) as a student and out-of-towner opportunity. It’s not something to participate in with family and children.”
The Athens Community Center also holds its annual celebration, Halloween Game Night, consisting of a costume parade and contest, a dance contest and games. The festivities begin immediately after the scheduled hour for trick-or-treating Thursday.
“It’s a bonus,” said Rich Campitelli, director of the community center. “You only get to be dressed up on the streets for an hour, so you come over, be with friends and show off your costume and maybe win some prizes.”
As a way to give back, student groups also organize events for Athens families.
The Residents’ Action Council, or tRAC, arranges its annual “tRAC or Treat” event where various residence halls host activities like crafts, face-painting, haunted houses and Halloween-themed games in their lobbies.
Similar to tRAC or Treat, Greek life gets together to sponsor activities in their houses. This year, 19 sororities and fraternities were involved in the week’s events.
“We decided to do this because, as OU students, we take away the children’s Halloween,” said Amanda Dureiko, a senior studying children and family studies and the philanthropy chair for Alpha Omicron Pi, which spearheads the events. “Greek life wants to give back to the children and have them be able to see that OU students care.”
Dureiko said she thinks that sentiment is shared because of how many chapter members participate in the event. This year, she said she thinks 75 to 100 people have shown interest.
Holzaepfel said his children certainly enjoy all of the opportunities, which are so abundant they don’t often go to the community center Thursday evening because they already have “all the candy and bounty they need.”
“They feel since there are multiple trick-or-treating options, it should entitle them to multiple costumes,” he said. “We’ve just embraced it … They rotate between events. They maximize their options.”
@buzzlightmeryl
mg986611@ohio.edu
