Locals gear up for Halloween night

Halloween night is the spookiest night of the year and kids everywhere will be out going door-to-door looking for a trick or a treat.

Rosemarie Mckenzie of Barrie is expecting upwards of 800 people to walk through her haunted house.

“I’m a huge kid. Nostalgic for Halloween,” said Mckenzie.

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Halloween is always a busy day for local businesses connected to the spooky holiday. Lots of people went last-minute shopping before it got dark.

“I’m with my kids getting costumes and then going to the other store to grab more candy for the kids,” said one mother in a Halloween hurry on Thursday. “Then I’m going home and decorating and everything getting ready for tonight.”

A new Léger/Canadian Press poll conducted suggests more than a quarter of the people polled will spend more than $100 on Halloween, and that Canadians spend an average of just over $67 on costumes, decorations, candy and other Halloween related items.

“It brings you back to your childhood,” said Mckenzie Potter of Barrie. “You get to live through your kids and watch the joy on their faces.”

Police everywhere remind drivers that the roads and crosswalks will be extra busy Thursday night. Kids should be highly visible, and all candy needs to be checked by parents at the end of the night.

“We do step up patrols in residential subdivisions where kids are trick-or-treating,” said Chief John Van Dyke of South Simcoe Police. “There will be a lot of foot traffic on our roads and on our sidewalks tonight.”

It’s not just the young but the young-at-heart who eat up nights like Halloween night.

“I’m just sort of riding along as Spiderman trying to get into the Halloween spirit and get a few smiles from some kids,” said a man dressed as Spiderman in Barrie on Thursday.

Drivers are urged to treat all roads and side streets as Community Safety Zones on Halloween night, and to remember that kids may not be paying attention to traffic as they race from house to house.