Thousands of Brantford residents attended the 15th annual Scare in the Square event in Harmony Square on Friday, October 6 and Saturday, October 7, 2023.
Visitors of all ages could be seen dressed up in their best handmade or store-bought Halloween costumes, many even entered to compete in Saturday’s costume contest to win a prize.
The two-day event featured plenty of activities for the whole family including tractor drawn hayrides, a Halloween roller skate party, and a Howl-o-ween dog parade.
Jennifer Middleton, Special Events Supervisor for the City of Brantford, said that she was thrilled with the event’s turnout.
“The turnout has been amazing,” she said. “Friday night was very busy because of course, we had the roller skating and the dog parade, so we had lots of little four-legged friends come out and the prizes from Global Pet Food were worth hundreds of dollars.”
On Saturday, members of the Brantford Area Jeep Club took over Dalhousie Street to show off their spook-tacular rides for the stationary jeep parade. Many handed out candy or stickers to youngsters passing by.
In the heart of the square, Marco the Clown spent the day various making balloon creations while the Owen Anderson magic show and the Barry-O kidshow kept children entertained and engaged on the main stage.
For young ones looking for more of a thrill, many caught a ride on the mini ferris wheel or the jack-o’-lantern themed Berry-go-round. Others could be heard laughing and shouting as they played in the bouncy-castle or raced in the inflatable obstacle course.
Also on site was Casper’s Craft Corner, the Nightmare House and as two escape rooms called the Witches’ Hunt and the Golden Gambit. The event also featured a live broadcast of the Brantford Bulldogs sold-out home opener games against the Oshawa Generals.
“We have plenty of smaller things going on like the character meet and greet with Tower Princess and Tower Witch, we have the free photo booth, face painting and you can even vote for your favourite pumpkins and scarecrows as well,” said Middleton.
Saturday’s main attraction was trick-or-treating around the square where children visited the surrounding businesses.
“If I had to estimate, we must have had about 800 kids lined up around the block for trick or treating,” said Middleton. “One of our vendors had over 400 candies on hand and they ran out in 30 minutes, it was incredible.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
