Bel Air To Celebrate Halloween On Main Street

BEL AIR, MD — Trick-or-treating on Main Street will go on this year, the Bel Air Board of Town Commissioners decided Tuesday during a virtual work session. Businesses downtown will be able to give goodies to children for the event, which will look slightly different during the time of the coronavirus.

"It’s going to be outside," Mayor Amy G. Chmielewski said. "The candy is to be prewrapped. No homemade candy or cookies or apples or anything like that. Everything has to be in a package from the store, [with] people maintaining distance. It's the perfect time to wear a mask."

The Bel Air Downtown Alliance sponsors the event, and Chmielewski said she raised the issue at Tuesday's work session in her role as a liaison.

"Personally, my vote is yes," Chmielewski said. Businesses could mark sidewalks with chalk to ensure people were keeping their distance, she said.

The other commissioners agreed.

"As the father of young kids, I think it’d be great to have the kids out there trick-or-treating," Commissioner Kevin Bianca said. He said he supported marking up the street to ensure a gang of 50 kids wasn't "bunching up and spreading stuff" during the event.

"If they can do the chalk marks and keep some sort of separation, I think it’d be great for the town and restore a little bit of normalcy,” Bianca said.

"I'm totally 100 percent in favor of this," Commissioner Erin Hughes said, adding she knew of Main Street businesses that were hoping to participate. "They want to do it."

Hughes also supported the idea of using chalk, "similar to what we do at the farmers market ... to keep people separated as they hit maybe a particularly choice candy dispensing location," she said.

"There's just so much stuff that's been canceled this year. I love when we can figure out a creative way to actually make something happen, especially if it's for the kids," Hughes said. "I think it's going to be greatly appreciated."

Nearly 75 percent of millennial moms and young parents believe "Halloween is more important than ever this year," according to a Harris Poll commissioned by the National Confectioners Association, which found 63 percent of adults believe communities will find fun, safe ways to recognize Halloween.

One commissioner said that as of mid-September, she was already seeing signs the community wanted to participate in the annual event.

"I've already seen costumes," Commissioner Donna Kahoe said. "Got to have Halloween. Kids have got to get out there."

To raise awareness about pedestrian safety, the mayor asked the Bel Air Police Department to put out some messaging before the event, which is slated for Oct. 24.

"Everybody wants to get outside, so we're anticipating this might be a popular event," Bel Air Police Chief Charles Moore said, in agreement. He noted his department just conducted a weeklong traffic detail around Labor Day focused on pedestrian safety.

The Main Street trick-or-treating event in downtown Bel Air is slated for 1 to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 24. Businesses will let people know they are participating with signage.