Newton BIA is gearing up for its annual “Spooktacular” Halloween event, but for the first time, they’re closing down a street for the festivities.
“We will be closing down a small portion of 137th Street,” said executive director Philip Aguirre. “This is a great precursor for our event season for 2020 where we’re looking to do a car-free day, closing 137th Street to do a larger city festival.”
Last year, the BIA estimates 3,000 people attended Spooktacular.
As in previous years, the BIA will be giving away free pumpkins, by donation to the Surrey Food Bank.
“There is going to be a pumpkin patch, a haunted train, face-painting, a BBQ, crafts, a zoo, mini-golf, games, and Surrey Dance Company will once again be doing a Halloween-themed dance,” said Aguirre.
Everyone is encouraged to show up in costume to partake in the trick-or-treating.
“We’ve got $1,400 in candy,” Aguirre laughed. “So lots of candy.”
The event is set to run from noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 26.
SEE ALSO: PHOTOS: Spooktacular Newton gets Surrey into Halloween spirit
In all, Aguirre estimated the event costs the BIA roughly $30,000 to pull together. This year Aguirre said the city is kicking in $2,000 this year through its cultural grant program.
“We would love the city to be a larger partner in events in Newton,” he said. “When we talk about large events in Newton, the BIA hosts most of the medium-sized events in the area, not including Vaisakhi, of course, and we’d like to see the city be a larger partner to continue to build community spirit.”
Aguirre said the BIA has big event plans for 2020.
“We’re very excited. I think we’ve graduated from our first five years, to Newton 2.0. Our event plan for 2020 is going to be bigger and better. And we’d love to see the creation of a park or plaza where we can hold larger, major events.”
amy.reid@surreynowleader.com
Like us on Facebook and follow Amy on Twitter