On Thursday, October 23, Wadsworth Square hosted Scare on the Square, Wadsworth Thriller, and the downtown trick-or-treat events.
Wadsworth Square became decorated and set up Thursday evening for a Halloween-themed night to celebrate the community and the spirit of Halloween.
The Scare on the Square event featured many of Wadsworth Square’s stores operating as spooky venues and tables for children to interact with or receive candy from. Stores such as M.C. Real Estate, the Valley Café, and Domino’s Pizza among others participated in the event.
“There’s a lot of safety concerns, so I think it’s important that we’re involved in this. There’s a lot of things to consider,” Wadsworth Police Chief Daniel Chafin said.
Officers from the Wadsworth Police Department blocked off roads using large industrial and construction vehicles, police cars, and traffic cones. The blockades contained the event and kept cars off the roads being utilized.
“We want to utilize the entire Square for this event, so we need to get traffic stopped, and cars out so that space is even available in the first place,” Chafin said. “If we put up standard road barricades that are plastic or cardboard, none of those barricades are going to actually stop a vehicle.”
Chafin also said that incidents with barricades have occurred in the past, and that the officers were prepared for any issues facing them.
“We have a lot of families down here tonight,” Chafin said. “Another component of the security here is that you have a large gathering of people.” Chafin said that keeping people safe was a large priority.
Chafin also said that if safety is taken care of, people can have a lot of fun and the event can be a success.
Towards the end of the event, the Wadsworth Thriller dance began. Sections of the roadways were separated using caution tape to create a pathway for a group of about 200 dancers outfitted as zombies led by local Wadsworth dentist Dr. Alex McIlvaine to perform choreography from Michael Jackson’s song, “Thriller.”
“We’re not the greatest dancers, but we have the most fun dancing,” McIlvaine said. He also said that he and his wife have been organizing a flash mob to dance for this event since 2013, and the community has loved it ever since.
“We want to highlight how beautiful downtown Wadsworth is.” McIlvaine said. “Our goal is to bring people downtown so they can see downtown and see more stores. It’s for the community.”
