**Breaking News** Due to rain forecast for Saturday, the trick or treating event will be held Sunday, Oct. 31!!
Downtown Ellijay’s Halloween trick-or-treat festivities will return to Harrison Park this Saturday.
Halloween lands on a Sunday this year, but the downtown trick or treating will be held Saturday, Oct. 30, from 1-4 p.m. It is free to attend and open to the public.
“We are encouraging kids and adults to dress up,” said Linda Lancaster, of Friends of Harrison Park.
The park’s Scarecrow Invasion display will still be up, and there will also be a place for photo ops at the park, Lancaster noted.
The event will welcome local business owners and organization members to hand out candy. Last year’s first-time Halloween at the park welcomed more than 2,000 kids and nearly 1,200 adults, Lancaster noted.
“We’ve had more time to plan for it (this year), which has been great. We had 50 groups giving out candy last year, and I’m sure we will have that many again, maybe more,” Lancaster said.
Friends of Harrison Park are still accepting candy donations for the event. Donated candy should be dropped off at the Gilmer Chamber by 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28.
“We are grateful for all the candy that’s been donated but we still need more,” said Lancaster.
Parking for the trick or treating will be available at Clear Creek and Ellijay Elementary Schools, as well as First United Methodist Church, Lancaster said. General event parking won’t be available at the smaller Harrison Park lot, although that space can be used for dropping off handicapped persons, she noted.
Lancaster said if bad weather causes the Saturday event to be canceled, it will instead be held Sunday, Oct. 31, at the same time.
“Should we decide we need to cancel on Saturday, we will post the information on both the Ellijay Life and Harrison Park Ellijay Facebook pages,” she added.
Also downtown, Ellijay First Baptist Church will host a fall festival Sunday, Oct. 31, from 4-6 p.m., in the parking lot beside the downtown Ellijay church.
First Baptist Pastor Josh Moyers said the event is open to the public and will feature games, cotton candy, popcorn and a bouncy house for kids.
A definitive date and time for countywide trick or treating has not been announced. After contacting several county and city offices, the general consensus appears that trick or treating in neighborhoods should be on the same day as the downtown park trick or treating.
However, those with candy to give out should probably expect trick or treaters on Sunday, as well.