Neighborhoods aren’t the only place kids can trick-or-treat this Halloween.
The downtown corridor, in fact, is looking like the place to be, for kids looking for a surefire way to load up on treats.
More than 50 businesses downtown will be welcoming trick-or-treaters this year, armed with candy and other treats and knickknacks at the door.
Last year was the first year the businesses downtown coordinated to make Halloween happen for trick-or-treaters, and after such a huge success, they had to do it again this year, said Kindred Post owner Christy NaMee Eriksen.
“I don’t think that anybody, myself included, expected what was an enormous turnout last year,” Eriksen said, saying some business owners ran out of candy. “I think estimates had it around 2,000 people.”
Eriksen is the one who came up with the idea last year. She said she took her son, dressed as Darth Vadar, out trick-or-treating in the downtown business corridor in 2014 and was disappointed to find that they were the only ones, and that no one was passing out candy.
“I was like why? Why don’t people come downtown? And that’s kind of where the seed as planted,” she explained.
In 2015, she went door-to-door and asked neighboring businesses if they would hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, and they obliged.
“They kind of humored me,” Eriksen said.
But the reception was huge, with tons of costumed kids and parents parading around downtown, filling up their plastic, orange pumpkins with candy.
This year, she said businesses were eager to take part in the newfound tradition. She said she ran into several other business owners at Costco, stocking up on candy to make sure there’s enough.
“We are better prepared this year,” she laughed.
Eriksen noted that it’s not about businesses making sales or trying to get customers in their stores — it’s just about community spirit and bringing people together.
“I love my neighborhood, and I love family time, and I love treats. So why not?”
Trick-or-treating downtown is taking place from 2-6 p.m., Monday, Oct. 31. Trick-or-treaters can look for orange balloons and a “Trick-or-Treating Here” sign on the doors of participating businesses.
Here’s a list of all of the participating businesses this year, thus far:
Seward Street:
Capital Copy (South Seward, next to City Hall)
Shoefly
The Rookery Cafe
Rainy Retreat Books
Lisa Davidson’s Boutique
Wells Fargo
Subway
Nana’s Attic
Downtown Dames
Art Sutch Photography
Canvas Arts
Pie in the Sky
Sequence AK
GCI
Northwind Architects
Little Tokyo
V’s Cellar Door
The Coconut Thai Cuisine
Urban Eskimo
Pretty Please
Front Street:
Triangle Club (outside)
Hearthside Books
The Jewel Box
Annie Kaill’s
Trickster Company
Alaska Democrats
Alaska Robotics
Sealaska Heritage
Juneau Drug
Heritage Cafe
Sketch Studio (behind Kenny’s, entrance in parking lot)
Franklin Street:
Red Dog Mercantile
Alaskan Brewing Co. Depot
Alaskan Fudge Co.
The Senate Building
Bear’s Lair
Juneau Artist Gallery
Chef Stefs
La Boheme
Seaside Yarns
Fiddlehead & Ferns
Bustin’ Out Boutique
Aurora Projekt
The Alaskan Hotel
El Sombrero
Mt Juneau Trading Post
Kindred Post
Midnight Sun Gifts
Rockwell
Island Sisters
Saffron
Foggy Mountain
Heritage Cafe
Baranof Hotel
Second Street:
Panhandle Provisions
In Bocca al Lupo
Silverbow Inn
Bauer/Clifton Interiors
Lemon Tree Cafe
Fourth Street:
Rainbow Foods
Marine Way:
The Taqueria
For more information, contact Kindred Post at 523-5053 or hello@kindredpost.com.
