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Syracuse tries to make Halloween full of more treats than tricks

Brandi Korte
/
Flickr

The City of Syracuse is coming together to try to make sure this Halloween weekend is a safe one. 

Halloween is on a Saturday this year.  And Syracuse Police Chief Frank Fowler says across the country, that often means a little more trouble than if it’s on a weekday.
 

"The city of Syracuse has not been immune to that in years past. And in years past, we’ve had our issues in the community -- issues with violence, issues with people acting in an unsafe manner,” said Fowler.

The police chief hopes a community-wide initiative that offers safe places for kids to gather and enjoy Halloween can minimize any of those problems. Several schools and community centers across the city will open up and offer everything from a costume contest to arts and crafts and Halloween treats on Saturday. 

The Southwest Community Center will be among those taking part in the initiative and director Sharon Owens says it’s good that an initiative like this is coordinated.

"I don’t want people for people to be afraid to come out on Halloween. But we said this is a great opportunity. Why not do it? Why not pull everybody together. We do it anyway individually, so let’s do it all together so at one particular time people know they they can go somewhere, and have a great time,” said Owens.

And she says this could be a template for anytime the community needs to work together in the future.

“There’s a lot of things that the community is doing. But sometimes it’s done, as most things, in isolation. This is an example of how you bring those different great things going on individually into one consolidated unit. This is an excellent example of that. And believe me, I have the list serve of everyone  of all these people standing up there, ready to hit the button again, for anything we may need in the future,” said Owens.
 

The Syracuse City School district will also offer parenting classes while kids are enjoying activities Saturday afternoon. 

 

Ellen produces news reports and features related to events that occur in the greater Syracuse area and throughout Onondaga County. Her reports are heard regularly in regional updates in Morning Edition and All Things Considered.