The Huntington Mall partnered with iHeart Media for the annual mall wide Safe Trick or Treat event, Tuesday, Oct. 30. The event was open to children 12 years of age and under with parental supervision.

The event kicked off with games and activities for the children to participate in before the trick or treating began. Several tables and stations set up in center court of the mall, including the iHeart Media table. Children registered in the Halloween costume contest for a chance to win prizes. The winners received “boo bags,” which were filled with candy and treats. The grand prize winners received boo bags and Halloween themed Great American cookies.

The event also collected non-perishable items to help the Feed Families Foundation with their community partner WCHS/WVAH TV.

“The event has been so successful in the four years we’ve done this,” Margi Macduff, marketing director of the Huntington Mall, said. “Normally in the past we have made people register their children, but it was just too crazy. Everyone was skipping lines and complaining. This year we didn’t ask for people to register unless they were entering the Halloween costume contest, and the lines are just starting all over at every end of the mall.”

Aimee and Zain Imran, with their two children Zyah and Achlys, attended the event as they have done since the children were born.

“This is just such a blast for not only the kids but the parents too,” Aimee Imran said. “It’s such a joy to see their faces light up when they receive candy at each of the stops, plus they love looking at all of the other children’s costumes, too. This event is something we look forward to every year, and I feel like the kids appreciate it more the older they get.”

Macduff said more than 1,000 kids attended during last year’s event, but without registration this year it was hard to come up with an exact number of how many children attended.

“A little over 60 stores participated in the trick or treat event, most of which had employees in costume stationed at the entrances of every store to pass out candy to the trick or treaters,” Macduff said. “Judging by the tally of the children who entered the costume contest alone, already we’ve had a bigger turn out this time around than in the previous years.”

Chelsey Stanley can be contacted at [email protected]