OTTAWA -- Halloween night has finally arrived for trick-or-treaters in Ottawa, and this year many are dressed to impress.
It is a major shift this Halloween after a one-year hiatus due to the ongoing pandemic.
"I dressed up as a fairy cuz I love fairies," said one trick-or-treater.
"We get to go door to door and eat candy,” added another in excitement.
Getting an early start on trick-or-treating was the Miller Family. Last year they chose to forgo the door-to-door visits.
"We didn’t take the kids last year,” said Alyssa Miller. "We brought our own bag of candy and handed it to the kids."
This year with COVID-19 numbers holding steady and high vaccine coverage, they felt more comfortable bringing their kids around the block on Halloween.
"Kids will be masked as they go around just for extra precaution," said Miller.
"My kids are going to be hopped up on sugar for a week. And looking forward to it,” added Miller’s husband, Mark.
Also taking further precautions is the Brobel family in Barrhaven, who decorated their home a few weeks early and has been handing out candy each night to avoid the bottleneck of trick-or-treaters on Halloween night.
“We started it at the beginning of October to come out and enjoy Halloween slowly and safely,” said Michael Brobel.
Averaging around five people a day, visitors are invited to gather around the cauldron to snap the perfect Halloween photo, visit the garden where half a dozen pumpkins carved by community members lay before they grab a loot bag of goodies.
"We’ve had about 20 to 50 more families today,” said Brobel. “If it wasn’t for the rain, we’d probably have more people show up.”
For the most part the wet weather didn’t dampen spirits. Instead, parents and grandparents were elated to gather with neighbours.
"It’s really nice to go out and see the decoration and enjoy," said one passerby.
Across Ottawa, trick-or-treaters were out collecting candy or checking out the Halloween decorations Sunday evening.
