Huge Halloween Party For Children Revived As In Years Past, Admission To The Event Will Be Free

Same place, same time, another eight tons of candy.

Spokane’s indoor trick-or-treating frenzy is back from the dead.

A massive Halloween party will be held again this year at the Convention Center - organized by new managers, but with help from the same man who ran the popular event for 11 years.

The last Hallelujah Halloween Party put on by Greg Yost and Calvary Chapel was in 1991. It was attended by more than 20,000 children.

“We had to bring it back,” said Dan St. John, an event coordinator for Spokane’s Special Olympics, this year’s lead sponsor. “And we want to keep it here.”

The party will include at least 50 booths for children 12 and under to wander through. Each will offer a different game or activity, from bobbing for apples to painting a huge Halloween mural.

“And candy, of course,” St. John said. “We can’t forget that. There’ll be plenty of it.”

As in years past, admission will be free.

The event began in 1980 at the church with a few hundred children but eventually spilled into the Convention Center. Parents cherished the party because it was safe, family oriented and far away from the cold weather and dark streets.

After Yost left Calvary Chapel in 1992, no one wanted to run the party. He tried unsuccessfully to resurrect the Halloween tradition alone in 1993.

Now St. John thinks he found a way.

Officials with Special Olympics and the local chapters of Camp Fire Boys and Girls raised money this year to pay for the event, which will cost about $7,000. Nearly a dozen local businesses also pitched in to bring back the party, called “Halloween I.”

The sponsors’ goal, however, is to get businesses, clubs and other groups running booths at the party to start paying for the space, St. John said.

“Nothing outrageous,” he said of the future fee. “Just enough to help us keep this thing on.”

If supporters reject that idea, St. John said money from two area haunted houses could be used for the party, but donations from businesses still will be needed.

“The important thing is that the Halloween party is back,” St. John said. “The rest we’ll figure out later.”

, DataTimes MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PARTY PARTICULARS The Halloween I party at the Spokane Convention Center will be Tuesday, Oct. 31, from 4 to 9 p.m. Admission is free and the event is open for children 12 and under. Passes must be picked up at any Spokane-area Little Caesar’s restaurant. One pass for each child. The Spokane Transit Authority will run a shuttle bus from the Spokane Arena to the Convention Center for 25 cents. The bus will run every 15 minutes from 3:30 to 10 p.m.