A popular Aldergrove shopping centre hosted a Halloween event of epic proportions this Saturday as hundreds of children and families came dressed in creative costumes.
For the second year in a row, Aldergrove Village Shopping Centre management and tenants at 26310 Fraser Hwy. handed out candy and a stamp to local trick-or-treaters.
Satellite tents in the parking lot in front of Bosley’s Pet Food Plus held a colouring station with free face painting, crafts, caricatures, and popcorn.
There, a “Great Pumpkin” escape room themed after the Peanuts comic strip also challenged families to try their hand at cracking the code.
Save-On-Foods also got into the Halloween spirit not only by handing out candy but with the creation of its very own makeshift haunted house.
Crates of pumpkin served as the aisles in which Halloween decor was hung, spooky smoke was emitted, and families dared to venture through together.
Produce manager Jack was suited up as a jack-o’-lantern and took a few moments to show his fairy granddaughter around to the next station.
Eight-year-old Emmett from Aldergrove dressed as Toad – a part mushroom-part human from Nintendo’s Mario video game empire.
As soon as artist Corycatures revealed Emmett’s Captain Toad caricature, with flying turtles beside him, the young boy gasped with glee.
“Mario is all he talks about,” his mother Nicole Van Loo said, noting that even his day-to-day runners had Mario faces on them.
Lineups grew outside of Aldergrove Optometry to meet Gizmo The Clown and see his comedic and balloon animal-making skills up close. Everything from turtles, whales, cats, and pumpkins ended up in the happy hands of costumed children.
The Pater family, from Aldergrove, were fawned over by store spectators as they walked about as a fuzzy family of pandas.
“That made my day” said Shoppers Drug Mart employee Lesley Rosiak, who stamped the family’s map as soon as the trio walked into the store.
One mother and daughter even dressed as Winifred and Sarah Sanderson from the famed Halloween movie about witches – Hocus Pocus.
Nearing the end of the event, at 2:45 p.m. names were drawn from a list of children who retrieved all the store stamps.
Five stores in the shopping centre donated prizes – including boots from Mark’s Work Wearhouse, gift cards from Aldergrove Optometry, Sabil Insurance, and gift baskets from Bosley’s Pet Food Plus and Save-On-Foods.
“See you next year,” exclaimed organizer Deborah Jorgenson of Finer Details Event Planning to kids who left with bags of candy, painted faces and smiles on their faces.
