Two witches guard the entrance to one of the houses involved in a previous Operation Halloween Horowhenua event.
Two witches guard the entrance to one of the houses involved in a previous Operation Halloween Horowhenua event.
There’ll be ghoulies, ghosties and maybe some long-legged beasties in Levin this Halloween.
Operation Halloween Horowhenua is back for its 10th year and Gay Leahy looking forward to a night of fun and safe trick-or-treating.
“At the start, we only had about 20 houses - now we get over 50 entered. It’s nice to see that growth.”
She said the event provides a safe way to experience trick-or-treating, with people tying an orange balloon to their mailbox to signal they are “halloween friendly”.
“If you would like your house to be visited by trick-or-treaters on the night, you put an orange balloon on your letterbox. I usually visit the participating houses a couple of days before to drop off a balloon to them.”
While Leahy has been running the event for the past nine years, she said it was her friend, Gemma Petit, who had the original idea.
“Her son wanted to go trick-or-treating and she started this to provide a safe environment for her son and other children to experience Halloween in. They moved away a year later and I’ve been running it since.”
“We get a lot of people who love doing up their houses for Halloween. They look forward to it each year and put a lot of effort into decorating.”
Houses participating in 2024 Operation Halloween Horowhenua will be given an orange balloon to put on their letterbox, the same as previous years.
She said the balloon is a great way to identify participating houses.
“I work in real estate and my vendors used to get worried about people entering their property on Halloween, so this is a great way to give them peace of mind but also to easily identify the houses.”
On the day, Leahy will regularly update the Operation Halloween Horowhenua Facebook page, telling trick-or-treaters if houses run out of candy, or alerting them when the houses are ready to visit.
“Some houses open up earlier than others so it’s great to put that up and also if houses run out of candy, either me or the person at the house can post on the page.
“It’s a great event to have and it’s always good fun.”
The details:
What: Operation Halloween Horowhenua
When: Thursday, October 31
More information: Operation Halloween Horowhenua Facebook page
