MANSFIELD — Downtown Mansfield traded traffic cones for plastic pumpkin buckets Saturday morning.
Trick-or-treaters descended on Mansfield’s Central Park, waiting patiently for their sweets against a backdrop of golden leaves, new brick crosswalks and bubbling fountains.
“The downtown area looks really nice,” said Latonia Chatman-Manns, flag coordinator for the Mansfield Senior High marching band. “It was really good to be back in our regular routine.”
Halloween festivities returned to the park after a year’s hiatus due to the Main Street Corridor Improvement Project.
The Halloween parade kicked things off, with performances by both the Mansfield Senior High and Madison High marching bands.
“The road was really lined today. That’s one of the bigger crowds that we’ve had,” said Norm Shoemaker of the Mid-Ohio Area Central Labor Council, which hosts the parade each year.
After the parade, children and families walked the streets for a family-friendly downtown trick-or-treat. Jennifer Kime of Downtown Mansfield Inc. estimated approximately 60 businesses participated.
“It was great to be back in the heart of downtown, for people to see the new streetscape and for all the businesses to have all these people coming back to see them,” said Mansfield Mayor Jodie Perry. “It felt good, and I was thrilled with the turnout.”
Joyce Scott of Martini’s on Main said she’s distributed candy during downtown trick-or-treat for 18 years. She loves watching the young children discover the fun of Halloween for the first time.
She also enjoys the way downtown trick-or-treat brings people from across the city together.
“(When it first started), it was just like a couple of kids that would come out — friends of the neighborhood,” she said. “It’s just grown and grown.”
While a few finishing details remain, the $21 million downtown improvement project is largely complete. Traffic on Main Street has been converted to a two-way flow.
City officials are planning a grand reopening celebration on Nov. 6. The event will begin at 5 p.m. with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony at the South Arch, located at the intersection of Main Street and Park Avenue West.
