Halloween fan Michelle Quail of Osoyoos Credit Union shows the poster that businesses can put in their window on Halloween to welcome children to their stores. (Richard McGuire photo)
When little ghoulies and ghosts go trick or treating this Halloween, many Main Street merchants will be welcoming them.
Osoyoos Credit Union is organizing an initiative called “Trick or Treat Main Street” to encourage children and parents to come downtown in Osoyoos for a fun and safe Halloween experience when businesses are open.
The event is the first of its kind in Osoyoos.
Michelle Quail, business development officer at the credit union, hatched the idea.
Quail acknowledges that she’s been passionate about Halloween since she was a little girl and her parents would dress as the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Esmeralda and silently go door to door.
“I love smalltown Halloween,” said Quail. “It’s so great and I want to keep that alive. I think Osoyoos Credit Union is such a staple in the town and this is a great event for us to get involved in and do annually.”
Quail said that when she raised the idea at work, her colleagues were happy to get on board.
“I had full support of the entire Osoyoos Credit Union,” she said. “They know me and they know I love Halloween and so it was not a surprise that I was pushing for this. They thought it was a really great event that we could do. We have a lot of events that we support, but don’t have anything to really involve the kids in the community as a whole.”
Her credit union colleagues on their events committee helped to organize it, including Richard Alexander, who worked on the posters and website.
Quail said the initial goal the credit union set for the event was to get a minimum of 65 per cent of Osoyoos Main Street businesses to buy into the idea.
The response, however, far exceeded expectations. Not all businesses remain open at Halloween, but of the ones approached that are open, all except one agreed to participate.
Quail said she came up with the idea when she was sitting in a coffee shop and heard two women planning a trip to Kelowna on Halloween so their children could go trick or treating in a mall while they shopped.
“I lived in Kelowna for 11 years and the mall was always packed,” Quail said. “We don’t have a mall here, but we have a Main Street. Why don’t we create a great, fun, safe environment during the day where kids can come.”
Young children can come during the day with their parents and other children who have worn their costumes to school can come afterwards, she said.
“A lot of parents pay a lot of money for their kids’ costumes,” said Quail. “Why not get use out of them rather than just a few hours in school and then a few hours in the evening? Make it a day.”
The event can also offer a tie-in with the town’s Halloween Howl at the Sonora Community Centre, she suggests.
Rather than using the Osoyoos Credit Union’s own website to promote the event, a dedicated website is being created at www.TrickOrTreatMainStreet.ca or www.TrickOrTreatMainStreet.com. The goal is to have it up and running by Oct. 6.
The website will list participating businesses. These businesses will also get a poster to display in their windows identifying themselves as welcoming “all ghouls and goblins, princesses and fairies, vampires and werewolves and superheroes and super villains.”
The posters make it easier for trick or treaters to avoid any business that chooses not to participate so that nobody’s time is wasted.
The credit union is billing itself as “Main Street Halloween Headquarters.”
Stores will only be expected to stay open during their normal business hours, though some may choose to change their hours.
The event addresses the usual safety concerns about Halloween, Quail said, such as dark streets and children who cause trouble, providing a safe experience.
Quail hopes the event becomes an annual one and she notes that it falls in the shoulder season when much of the busy tourist traffic is gone.
“We’d love to see it tying in with Halloween Howl and making it a whole day almost like a festival where you come down and you hang out downtown,” said Quail.
RICHARD McGUIRE
Osoyoos Times
