The Town of Cutler Bay’s annual Haunted House on Saturday, Oct. 26, drew a large crowd with residents participating in the haunted house, costume contest, and “Track or Treat” candy giveaway.
“Close to a thousand people attended,” said Parks and Recreation director Alan Ricke.
“We were very happy with the turnout. By our count, 661 people went through the haunted house. These people were eager to be scared, waiting in line for about 30 minutes to be the first ones in. Some of the smaller kids and grandparents didn’t go through.”
Located again at Cutler Ridge Park, 10100 SW 200 St., from 6 to 9 p.m., the event also made use of the park’s running track for the “Track or Treat” feature in which local merchants and organizations were positioned around the track to display their business and pass out information and candy in a safe alternative to traditional neighborhood trick or treating.
More candy was dispersed in the “Spider Egg Hunt,” in which several hundred costumed children gathered up 2,000 orange and black spider eggs filled with candy in a Halloween variation of an Easter egg hunt.
But perhaps the most popular part of the evening’s festivities was the Costume Contest with both adults and youngsters dressing up in their scariest or cutest outfits. Judges for the contest were Cutler Bay Council members Peggy Bell and Sue Ellen Loyzelle, and Justin Koren, who is the lead teacher at Cutler Bay Academy High School.
Organizers didn’t collect names of the participants, and in full makeup and costumes it was hard to tell who was who anyway, but the judges awarded prizes in the adult division to folks dressed as the Grim Reaper (first place), Dorothy & Toto (second place) and Bat Woman (third place). Even the judges got in the act by wearing costumes of their own.
“I thought it was a fabulous event,” said Councilmember Sue Ellen Loyzelle. “A lot of families came out and participated. Very unique costumes. My favorite one of all the costumes was the Recycled Robot. It was a little boy whose mother used all recycled products to make his robot costume, and it was fabulous. There was a lot of enthusiasm and a lot of creativity with the costumes .”
