Halloween event in Town could be held annually
A HALLOWEEN trick or treat celebration in the streets of St Peter Port is set to become a regular feature of the calendar, after the inaugural event proved to be enormously popular.
‘I’m still in shock,’ said Jenny Le Prevost, who is a trustee for Smile For Georgie – the charity which worked with Iris and Dora Studios to put it on.
‘We didn’t know how many children to cater for and although we provided 100kgs of sweets and chocolate, they were mostly gone within half an hour. A lot of shops went out and bought more.’
The charity aims to put smiles on faces through acts of kindness and the event was put on in order to treat children in a safe environment, rather than as a fundraiser.
‘We’ll be making a few changes next year to try to cater for the numbers a little better,’ she said.
‘We’ll look to get more outside help with marshalling and if we can involve more shops, that might dilute the numbers a bit. Hopefully, we’ll be able to extend into Mill Street.’
Some consideration had been given to holding similar events in St Martin’s and at the Bridge, she said, but traffic considerations made that more of a challenge. Another type of extension could be to hold the event over two hours rather than one, with the treats replenished after an hour.
Feedback is being welcomed via email at hello@smileforgeorgie.org.gg or via the charity’s Facebook page.
St Peter Port senior constable Zoe Lihou said another possible improvement could be to provide a quiet zone or to arrange for people to arrive at a given location and then follow a route around the various shops taking part.
‘We could also look into putting in a PA licence application so we can have live music,’ she said.
‘It was a great event and we’re really grateful to the organisers. It was busier than the Santa switch-on and some people told me they hadn’t been into Town in ages before coming in for this.’
The Constables' Office was itself heavily decorated in a Halloween theme by Music Theatre Guernsey and also gave out treats, which soon ran dry.
‘We ended up giving out the decorations off the candle holders,’ Mrs Lihou said.
‘I ended up running into the shops, dressed as a bumble bee, grabbing some sweets and shouting “bill me tomorrow”.’
