Thank You for Making Halloween 2024 Events Spooktacular

It's been a fun-filled time celebrating Halloween 2024 in Santa Rosa! We've had fun hosting Halloween events enjoyed by more than 3,700 participants, donors, sponsors, vendors, community groups, and City staff, and handing out more than 800 bags of candy and special treat bags. We saw some spectacular costumes and even brighter smiles. Thank you to everyone who made these events successful, including Halloween at Howarth Park, the Floating Pumpkin Patch at Ridgway Swim Center, the Halloween Bash at Finley Community Park, SRPD's Trunk-or-Treat, and the Pumpkin Hunt in our City parks. It has been a privilege and a ghoulishly good time!

Halloween at Howarth Park

Halloween at Howarth Park on Oct. 26 was once again a sold-out event with over 1,000 people in attendance. This year's event was organized by Leah Stewart, Recreation Coordinator with Santa Rosa Recreation & Parks. Leah credits her Howarth Park seasonal staff members for their enthusiastic help and says the event "wouldn't have been successful without all the organizations that hosted a booth!" The event was a collaboration involving 15 organizations, including the City's police, fire, and water departments and representatives from the park maintenance and recreation marketing teams. Highlights of the event included the School of Rock's Teen House Band performing on the lower lawn; giant lawn games including bowling, Jenga, and pumpkin tic-tac-toe, and face painting for families to enjoy; vendor-provided activities such as the ring toss, pumpkin hammering, cornhole, fencing, and a photobooth. Many people also enjoyed the Spooky Train Ride and carousel rides. More than 60 bags of candy were handed out and Trader Joes passed out over 500 premade treat bags.

Halloween Bash

The Halloween Bash on Oct. 26 at Finley Community Park attracted more than 500 people. This annual free event was organized by staff with the City's Neighborhood Services Program, with support from the Violence Prevention Program. Families enjoyed visiting decorated trunks, trick-or-treating, eating nachos, walking through the haunted house, making spooky crafts, taking pictures in the photo booth, playing games, face painting and temporary tattoos, and winning prizes including a gift card to Epicenter, pumpkin carving kits, and a family movie night. In total, kids of all ages collected more than 150 lbs. of candy!

"We collaborated with many partners to make this event happen, said Joanna Moore, Recreation Supervisor with the Neighborhood Services Program. "This year, we had 15 vendors come out to host trunk-or-treating, including representatives from the Santa Rosa Police Department's Gang and Crimes Team, the Santa Rosa Fire Department, the Santa Rosa Parks maintenance team, and staff with the Transportation and Public Works Department."

Participating community organizations included Catholic Charities, LifeWorks, Dave's Gourmet Ice Cream, National Academy of Athletics, West Side Little League, Santa Rosa City Schools, Pediatric Dental Initiative, Chop's Teen Club, and the Angel Foundation.

"One of our biggest hits this year was a tractor brought out by Park maintenance staff and the City's Rosie the Trolley, which was decorated in an Encanto theme. One little girl dressed up as Mirabel wanted to stay in the trolley all night, pretending she was actually in the movie."

Trunk or Treat 2024

The community engagement team with the Santa Rosa Police Department (SRPD) wishes to thank everyone who came out and celebrated Trunk or Treat on Oct. 21. A great time was had with SRPD's public safety, military, and community organization partners. More than 500 cars and 1,500 trick-or-treaters participated, making the event a huge success and a spooktacularly good time! It would not have been possible without our community donors and sponsors, so a huge shout out to them, including Froggy 92.9, Blind Scream Haunted House, Mulreath Pumpkin Patch, 501st Legion, Coogler's Auto Repair - Smog, Tire and Brake, Santa Rosa Police Officers' Association, Santa Rosa Police Management Association, SRPD K9 Association, Jeff & Sandi Wandel, and Brian Gilardi.

Floating Pumpkin Patch

The 13th annual Floating Pumpkin Patch on Oct. 19 was once again a sold-out event attracting 616 registered participants to ditch the traditional dusty pumpkin patch and hunt for their pumpkins in refreshing pool at Ridgway Swim Center. The Aquatics team with Santa Rosa Recreation & Parks, led by Joel Stras, Millie Abraha, and Kelly Birkland ran a 'smooth as pool water' event with lots of smiles and candy-filled grins," said Brandon Hamman, Aquatics Supervisor. In addition to floating pumpkins, the event featured activities such as the ring toss, bean bag toss, floating duckies, spooky bowling, pumpkin decorating, the Pumpkin Fairy Godmother, a scavenger hunt, and more. Over 600 Halloween bags were distributed and over 5,000 pieces of candy and prizes awarded. Scavenger hunt winners also received a special treat bag full of goodies.

Pumpkin Hunt in City Parks

The first annual Pumpkin Hunt was a monthlong event beginning on Oct. 1 with excited participants calling in to the Finley Community Center and asking where to find pumpkin cut-outs hidden in our City parks. Over 60 pumpkins were hidden across 20 parks. "Some participants traveled to three different parks to find a pumpkin," said Delaney Temple, Recreation Specialist with Santa Rosa Recreation & Parks. "We even had two enthusiastic pumpkin hunters enter Finley Community Center, shouting "TRICK OR TREAT!" The awesome front desk staff at the Finley Center helped to answer questions and hand out prizes. With help from the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Snoopy's Ice Arena, little Jack-o-Lanterns were filled with candy, stickers, temporary tattoos, admission passes, and more. "Everyone who found a pumpkin received a prize. As of 3 p.m. on Oct. 28, 47 prizes had been handed out. Each pumpkin hunter was so proud of themselves, and we are proud of everyone for getting outside in our parks!"

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