By Joseph Goral
Staff Writer
jgoral@mihomepaper.com
LAKE ORION — Lake Orion’s Halloween Extravaganza will return to downtown on Wednesday, Oct. 16, from 5-8 p.m.
Organized by Lake Orion’s Downtown Development Authority, the event will include a variety of activities throughout the village’s downtown including the return of the kids’ costume parade, according to DDA Assistant Director Janet Bloom.
“What’s different this year is that we are going to line up in the village hall area, so at the corner of Church (Street) and Anderson (Street),” Bloom said. “We’re going to stage on Anderson and line up will begin at 5:30 p.m., we’ll step off at 6 p.m. and we’ll make our way down Anderson all the way to Children’s Park.”
Different activities will be set up in Children’s Park along with the trick-or-treat trail map showing where kids can collect candy. The DDA wants to encourage families to go door-to-door downtown to see the area’s retailers, some of which are new, according to Bloom.
One of 17 pages of a story will be posted in the windows of 17 different retailers downtown which, when read in order, will tell a Halloween children’s story. This “Storybook Stroll” will have a map posted online and in the retailers’ windows for families to follow in order as they stroll through downtown together.
Getting people downtown is the DDA’s goal to ensure the group is “an economic driver” for its businesses and the community. Events like the extravaganza introduce people what businesses are downtown so they “hopefully then come back, shop, support” and buy local, Bloom said.
The event is free, and guests are encouraged to use Elizabeth Street parking and the Lake Orion Community Schools Administration building’s parking lot.
More information about this and upcoming events will be posted on the DDA’s website, downtownlakeorion.org, and on their Facebook and Instagram pages.