For two hours on Saturday October 29th, Festival Park in Hobart became a jam packed Halloween celebration! The park was filled with costumes, activities, food, and a live band. There was ghouls, goblins, princess, and smiles at every turn.
“This is the second year at this location. It started off four years ago, maybe. We used to close off our downtown and we would have it there. Last year our downtown was under construction, so we had to move it here at the last minute,” said Nikki Lopez, the Event Director City of Hobart. “But it actually worked out better here because it's a better location and there’s more parking. So, we decided to keep it here.”
The abundant parking was absolutely necessary. Across the street from Festival Park, Hobart Police directed traffic and coordinated parking at the soccer and rugby field. By only 4:30, the field was half filled with vehicles.
Costume children crossed the street in droves. Like every Halloween, there is a variety of costumes: some scary, some funny, and some cute. Many families coordinated together under a theme or reference. There was a family of Incredibles, Where’s Waldo look-a-likes, and a variety of other Disney characters.
“It's a free event and open to the public. A lot of the ‘trunk or treats’ charge per kid. We try to do everything we can for free, so people can come out and enjoy this event. We understand how expensive it can be for a whole family to go out sometimes,” said Lopez.
There were additional activities provided by City of Hobart that were pay attractions. The most popular was the inflatable ‘Knocker Balls.’ Children entered the center of large inflatable balls and would bounce into each other full force, sending each child bouncing backward. Parents would come onto the field to roll their child around on the grass, until they popped out from dizzy exhaustion.
“People love those Knocker Balls. This is the first year we’ve actually owned them. Last year I had a company come out and I rented them, but they went out of business. So, I just asked to buy them from the company and they let me. So, now we’re able to use them for all of our events. And it's become a little revenue generator to get money back to continue to put these events on,” said Lopez.
Though there were some pay-to-play attractions, everything at the event was funded by donations.
“All these events are completely funded by our community. I work for the city, but they do not have a budget planned for us. All 30 events we do throughout the year come from donations from businesses and organizations,” said Lopez.
Even as the night wound down, the children were still running high on their sugar rush from their candy. The playground was a popular area for the kids. Another popular area was in front of the live band, The Code Names. The band consisting entirely of middle school students. Children danced and hopped around in front of the band, while they covered songs from Weezer, The Arctic Monkeys, and other recognizable tunes.
“This is a great event. We didn’t really come with a bunch of cash today, but we're happy to spend what we had on the Knocker Balls. That was worth every penny. I’m not going to forget how happy that made my son, Tommy,” said Thomas Gonzalez.
Tommy Gonzalez then asked his father if he could “take one of the balls home with him.”
The massive event was an outstanding success and highly organized for the massive crowd that arrived. It's safe to say the children of the community are already looking forward to next year’s Halloween at Festival Park.