Family fun at Fantasy Maze

Hunter Ellis, Reporter

Greater Huntington Park and Recreation District’s Fantasy Maze at Ritter Park will continue this Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The maze features classic storybook and cartoon characters like the “Wizard of Oz” crew, Elsa from “Frozen,” Alice in Wonderland, Santa and Mrs. Clause and more. The characters are spread throughout the maze and each character in the maze hands out candy to the visitors, so facilitators encourage children to dress up and bring a bag for candy. The maze itself is created with lines of hay bales spread throughout an area of the park.

The Fantasy Maze is a family oriented event that provides a non-scary alternative for families primarily with young children in the Huntington area.

Aaron Ward, a Huntington local, said it was a great family atmosphere and a great alternative for his daughter, Callie, who isn’t necessarily ready for the scarier Halloween activities. Callie, age 4, dressed up as Mal from the movie “Descendants” and said her favorite part was seeing the princesses.

“We live close to Ritter, and so for us, it was a great family evening together,” Ward said. “My wife and I took both of our daughters, and Callie is the perfect age for that kind of stuff. I’m glad there’s still safe options around our town and not something that she’s going to have nightmares about for weeks. Halloween is still sweet for her. Everything is sweet for her.”

Ward also said he was impressed with the mix of characters at the maze. He said the park did a good job of mixing in the new popular characters with the old classics.

Along with the maze and classic characters, there are inflatables for children to play on after completing the maze for an additional $3. Concessions are also available.

Parking is available inside Ritter Park, with traffic entering on 8th Street, traveling east on the road inside the Park, and exiting on 12th Street. The cost is $5 per person and tickets can be purchased at the event from 4:30-8:30 p.m.

Hunter Ellis can be contacted at [email protected].