Downtown Niagara Falls throws an all-day Halloween bash
For downtown Niagara Falls, there was no way COVID-19 was going to kill the Halloween spirit Saturday.
Businesses, vendors and artists got the party started at noon for the first Nightmare on Queen Street, with events stretching to midnight up and down the street.
Parents with their kids in costume arrived early, which brought a smile to Ron Charbonneau’s face. The chair of the Downtown BIA says the event was a nice morale boost for a street that has been forced to think “outside the box” for months to combat the pandemic.
Asection of the street between St. Lawrence and Crysler avenues was closed during the summer to allow more pedestrians and outdoor restaurant seating. There have also been special events and movie nights to prompt people to visit.
Several businesses and restaurants were on board for Nightmare on Queen Street.
“People, I think, want to get out of their houses,” he said while handing out bottles of hand sanitizer Saturday. “The adults need it, the kids need it.”
The event offered pumpkin carving, pumpkin bowling, a giant chess board and even a witches mass scheduled for 8 p.m.
The flicks “Hocus Pocus” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” were scheduled to start at 7 p.m. down by city hall.
Carbonneau was so encouraged by the event, he anticipates it continuing even after COVID has passed.
Paris Crepes general manager Starr Bowes said the event was a nice reprieve from all the uncertainty of 2020, and the possibility of more to come.
“We had to salvage something from anything we did over the last couple of months,” she said. “I feel like having some happiness before the winter months come is good.
“And it’s nice to see community coming together.”
Bowes was in it for the “long haul” Saturday and planned to help with the cleanup past midnight.
“I’ll be here right into the first of November!”
Despite push back from some businesses, Bowes said the new-look Queen Street during the pandemic has been ideal.
“We couldn’t be happier,” she said. “It gave us hope at a time when we didn’t have it because we couldn’t use the inside of our businesses.
“I mean, some people love it and some hate it, but that’s anywhere. People are afraid of change, but I think change is something we all have to inevitably understand is going to happen.”