With LA County’s regulations regarding Halloween, the City of Downey will not be hosting their annual Pumpkin Patch. Instead, they have created an alternative for citizens to enjoy, including a Halloween movie drive-in, a Candy Crawl, and a drive-by trick-or-treating event.

Wanting their citizens to enjoy the now regulated night, the City of Downey felt that they should create an alternative for their citizens to enjoy. Working in the Parks and Recreation Department, J. Chacon talks about how they came up with  the idea.

“Without having the annual [pumpkin patch], it was a little bit difficult. Some cities are having a drive-in movie,” Chacon says. “The problem was we didn’t want to limit the number of who we could reach. Our drive in could only fit about 70 cars, which is roughly two hundred people… we usually get five to seven thousand people at our halloween event…  So we decided to do both of them at the same time.”

The Candy Crawl will be hosted in various locations around the city. Locations include the Rio Hondo Golf Club, Downey Federal Credit Union, Stonewood Center, Barbara J. Riley Community & Senior Center, and the Columbia Memorial Space Center.

“We chose six different locations around the city.” Chacon added, “It’s not a route that has to be followed and people don’t even have to go all six of them, you can just drive through the one closest to your neighborhood. There’s enough corridors around the city [to prevent traffic].”

Without trick-or-treating, parents may find themselves under the stress of finding a Halloween activity for their children to participate in. The city recognized this and Chacon further mentions the goal they have for it.

“We just wanted to provide options for parents to choose from. Some parents might not feel comfortable trick-or-treating and going door-to-door. I know the county has some protocols for that,” he states. “I definitely think this is a safe option. Hopefully it’s something enjoyable, we want kids to dress up still and come to our different locations and get candy.”

Despite the regulations that have been put in place, the holidays are not ruined. There are many events being hosted. The City of Downey welcomes all, resident or not, to celebrate this year’s different approach to Halloween.