The Gladish Community and Cultural Center has planned a night of safe, spooky fun this Saturday, featuring themed trunk-or-treating for youngsters, a scare-filled haunted house for those older and more Halloween activities.

The Gladish’s Halloween Bash is from 3–9 p.m. The trunk-or-treating and a free carnival will run from 3–7 p.m., and the haunted house will run from 6–9 p.m. and cost $5 to enter.

Aryn Vance, Gladish head event coordinator, said that for the trunk-or-treat, the Gladish wanted to create a fun and welcoming experience for families.

“They’ll be doing a bunch of cars, [and] children can come get candy from different themed trunks. It is very fun,” Vance said.

For the past few Halloween events, the Gladish has made it so the haunted house is completely after trunk-or-treat, Vance said. This year, the Gladish wanted to take a new approach and is having one hour of overlap between the two events so that younger children can still be taken care of while older children go to the haunted house.

“That way in case some older siblings or parents want to go to the haunted house, they can kind of leave their kids with us in the carnival,” Vance said. “And we can have a whole hour for them to play games and enjoy themselves while the parents have the opportunity to go and do some more grown-up activities.”

For many families, Halloween can be a nerve-wracking time of year, Vance said. The thought of walking at night and taking candy from untrusted sources rings alarm bells for many families.

Vance said they hope it can bring more people out for a fun night of Halloween activities this year.

“This is a great opportunity for [kids] to come and be around other kids and still get the opportunity to trick or treat and have the fun magic of Halloween,” Vance said.