Halloween takes over Hot Springs downtown

HOT SPRINGS – Hot Springs celebrated Halloween this past week with a wide array of festivities.

This year, the Hot Springs Parent Teacher Organization held their Family Fun Night on Halloween. HSPTO President Erin Alt said this year’s event just happened to fall on Halloween.

“This is something we do twice a year,” Alt said. “Sometimes we have a carnival or other activity, this year it happened to fall on Halloween.”

Students and their families were invited to come eat dinner and get their faces painted. The HSPTO also passed out glow sticks to trick or treat participants.

“Glow sticks help make children more visible,” Alt said. “We want everyone to have a safe holiday.”

After dinner, students had the opportunity to go to the Symes Hotel for the ghost walk. The ghost walk is an annual event held by the Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce. Local businesses dress-up in costumes and pass out candy to trick or treaters. Local business owners enjoy their participation in the event.

“It has always been a big thing,” Montana Movie Posters owner Kristel Lacy said. “We have done it every year since we have been at this location.”

Sometimes for Lacy the weather is not always favorable for Halloween. Often times the cold weather has set in come late October.

“I sit here with my heater and blankets to keep warm,” Lacy said. “It has even snowed before and been down right cold.”

This year’s weather provided a nearly perfect night for the children of Hot Springs to come out and get candy from local businesses. Lacy had her Halloween party mix cranking outside while she passed out candy.

The route included stops at nearly all of the businesses along Main Street. Children could walk through Wall Street Place and head up the street to Buck’s Grocery, Camas Organic Foods, and Gambles. Gambles manager Leslie Haugen looks forward to the event every year.

“I’ve been doing it for the five years I have managed this location,” Haugen said. “I love seeing the kids out and about and their costumes. They can get pretty creative.”

The event has become such a regular part of the holiday, Haugen does not even wait to hear from the Chamber to see if they are having it again.

“We just assume we will do it every year,” Haugen said. “We typically get between 75 and 100 people who come through each year.”

After the ghost walk ended, Hot Springs Chamber of Commerce President Leslee Smith held the annual costume contest. Children were broken up into categories by age and given awards based on who had the cutest, scariest, and most traditional costumes.

Prize money was given to the top three in each category, but all of those came dressed up were given a prize from the Chamber.

After the costume contest, those brave enough could venture back to the Symes to the Hallways of Horror. The upstairs west wing of the hotel was converted into a haunted hallway with different scares in the various rooms throughout the Symes.

Participants had staff members and volunteers in costumes who jumped out from the different rooms to scare the brave souls who took in the haunted hallway challenge.