Mansfield gets into the Halloween spirit

SPOOKY decorations lined the streets of Mansfield on October 31 with a number of trick or treaters getting into the Halloween spirit. Children dressed in a variety of costumes from whimsical fairies to chilling ghouls, roaming the streets and admiring the decorations. Katie Gannaway became the admin of the Halloween trick or treating Mansfield Facebook page four years ago. “I used to run a similar page in Melbourne before I moved to Mansfield,” she said. “When I came here, I thought I would give it a go, but I wasn’t sure how big it was going to get,” she said. “Now we’ve got 740 members on this page. “There are more than double the number of houses taking part from when it first started in 2021 and there were about 35 houses this year. “The best part is seeing all the kids and even the teenagers getting out there and having fun.” For the fourth year in a row, Brendon Chisholm had one of the biggest Halloween displays at his home on Amy Court. A number of coffins, which Brendon built by hand from wooden pallets, lay across his front lawn and an eerie winged demon statue manned the front door. “All of the feathers for the wings were collected across the year with my family, nephews and friends,” he said. “We spray painted the skeleton and it has a real bull's head, sheep’s head and spine. “It’s just imagination running wild and it was more trick than treat this year. “The kids had to reach into the coffins which had different things in them, but they were not all candy. “The “hard candy” had rocks in the bottom and the “liquid candy” had water with green dye.” Brendon said he donated a lot of decorations used in previous years to neighbours and the Mansfield Youth Centre. “I would just like to thank everyone who donated their time, especially Kane Lovick,” he said. “Next year we’ve got something even bigger planned, and we’ll be using the whole entire court.” The Mansfield Youth Centre looked more spooky than usual with the hallway converted into a Halloween Walk through. This was the first year the walkthrough was held at the centre. The event was a chance for young people to come and connect with their community, socialise with their peers and get involved creatively through costumes and play. Members of Mansfield’s Youth Advisory Group made up of ten community members aged 12 to 25 also had the opportunity to get involved with planning, preparing and facilitating the event. “We went all-out to capture the spooky atmosphere with decorations, costumes and more,” the Mansfield Shire Youth team said. “The great thing about the Halloween walk through and similar events is that they provide an exciting space where young people can participate and engage with community in their own way.” Karli Brkljacic nurse practitioner and operations manager at Central General Practise Mansfield said they ran a simple Halloween activity for the first year ever. Many of our staff have young kids and so many kids come through our doors, this was a great way to engage them with something fun,” she said. “They had to earn their lollies by answering a fun and spooky health quiz.”