What goes bump in the night, giving East County a fright?
This past weekend it was thousands of children showing off their amazing, creative and fun costumes as they roamed the streets in search of tasty treats.
It was a packed schedule across the region as many different communities and organizations joined in the Halloween weekend, Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 30-31.
The hijinks began at Gresham Station Saturday afternoon during the annual Halloween Spooktacular. Families visited the sprawling shopping complex, 649 N.W. 12th St., to trick-or-treat at the many businesses and meet a pair of furry celebrities — two alpacas from Mtn Peaks Therapy.
Families lined up to take pictures with the alpacas as they were fed carrot sticks for the holiday — a treat that probably wouldn't be the most popular for the youths excitedly bouncing around the parking lot at Gresham Station.
Several places had drive-thru opportunities for kids to "Trunk-or-Treat."
Wood Village was all about celebrating the orange gourds, with the sixth annual Pumpkin Fest from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, at the new City Hall & Civic Center, 24200 N.E. Halsey St. With the pandemic the city had a drive-thru pickup for all the supplies needed to have fun safely at home.
On Halloween, Sunday, Oct. 31, both the Gresham Elks and Gresham Ford hosted drive-thru events. There was the trunk-or-treat at the Gresham Elks Lodge, 3330 N.E. Division St., followed by the drive-thru Halloween Trunk-Or-Treat hosted by Gresham Ford.
Both downtown Gresham and Troutdale put together fun events for local trick-or-treaters.
Saturday evening downtown Gresham was filled with families and costumed children for the annual free Safe Trick-or-Treat event hosted by the Historic Downtown Gresham Business Association. Main Avenue, between First and Fourth Streets, was closed as trick-or-treaters lined the sidewalks and business owners passed out candy. There was also music from Midschool Gresham.
Troutdale had a trick-or-treat event winding through downtown that evening, with businesses along the Historic Highway passing out candy.
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