Michelle LaBounty stood outside the Plattsburgh Housing Outlet’s facilities and envisioned a small community, decorated with ghosts and ghouls and able to provide families with a safe place, worry free of traffic, to trick or treat.
“At the same time, the Ronald McDonald House in Burlington said a lot of people use their facility from our side of the lake and they could use a little assistance,” she said. “I thought if I just charged a dollar people could afford it and it could be a fundraiser too.” That birthed a yearly Halloween tradition that this year hopes to exceed $40,000.
“This is our 12th year,” said LaBounty, Marketing Director for Plattsburgh Housing Outlet.
She and her team start work each August to prepare for the Halloween Festival, which this year is being held on Oct. 29, from 1-4 p.m. for children 12 and under. Children 12 and under are encouraged to come in costume to the Plattsburgh Housing Outlet.
The model homes are displayed in a community setting, offering children a controlled environment for trick or treating.
Local businesses and civic organizations sponsor individual homes, staffing them and handing out candy and treats.
The festivities include a magician named Ishkabibble, who will be next door at Della Honda at 2 p.m.
Photo from previous
Plattsburgh Housing Outlet’s
trick or treating events.
Photo provided. |
Also on hand at the Halloween Festival are arts and crafts, a raffle and an array of 25-cent games.
“Participants can bob for apples and enjoy cider and munchkins, LaBounty said.
Adirondack Safe Kids Coalition will also support the event and provide Halloween safety advice and car-seat checks.
District 3 plans to display a fire truck and offer tips, while the Clinton County Sheriff’s Department will conduct fingerprinting and ID service.
Plattsburgh Housing Outlet will contribute all proceeds from the Halloween Festival to the Ronald McDonald House in Burlington. The Housing Outlet has raised nearly $40,000 since the festival started.
“My kids are now 12 and 16 and they will help out that day,” LaBounty said. “It is important as a parent to be present in your community and to show kids by example by helping people sometimes less fortunate that yourselves.”
LaBounty is keeping her fingers crossed for good weather and is eager for a day of fun for families and their children.
But she encouraged families to attend no matter what the weather.
“On a bad year we get around 250 kids and on a good year 600 to 700,” LaBounty said. LaBounty described it as two-fold event that is a fun and safe place for people.
“We have been lucky in the North Country, but on Halloween at the end of October, it is dark when kids go trick or treating and sometimes they are in dark clothing walking on the highway where cars drive quickly,” she said. “Statistically, it is a dangerous night, and this eliminates that worry of going around the roads and relieves a lot of pressure for parents.”
Full details are available at
www.plattsburghhousing.com
Parking is available on site as well as Della Honda, which is where car-seat checks occur.
Stephen Bartlett spent 13 years as a journalist but left to pursue a career in direct support for individuals with developmental disabilities, inspired by his son, Samuel, who has 1p36 Deletion Syndrome. He also has a 16-year-old daughter and has lived in Plattsburgh for the past 12 years. Besides spending time with his children and his fiance Erica, Stephen enjoys writing fiction, snowboarding, martial arts, running and playing guitar. Despite leaving journalism as a career, Stephen continues to freelance for the Press-Republican and is passionate about relaying the community’s stories to its readers.
.jpg)