Happy Halloween!
Here are some announcements about Halloween today and a message from me at the end.

1.      Staying Safe– MRPD has a patrol plan for tomorrow evening which includes additional coverage for the trick or treaters, the Mayors Halloween Party, and the streets. MRPD officers on duty have been given bags of candy to hand out on Halloween patrol.

2.      Good Community Practices–

a.      Please give your child a glow stick or flashlight and safety instructionsbefore they go out, even if you will be with them every step of the way.

b.     Please make sure that you remove obstructions from sidewalks and walkways leading up to where you are handing out candy. If your walkway, steps, or railing are not safe or not up to code, give out candy at a safer location-e.g. at the bottom of your steps or the end of your driveway.

c.       If you are not handing out candy, have run out of candy, or are done answering the door for the evening, PLEASE turn off your porch light and front room lights or put an obvious obstruction at your walkway (e.g. garbage can, sign) Trick or treaters appreciate these universal signals that they should bypass your house. It is sad when a kid knocks on a door, can hear / see people inside, only to realize no one is coming. L

3.      Mount Rainier Elementary School’s Halloween Parade– MRE is having a Harvest Celebration Parade on Halloween on their blacktop playground at 1pm. All are welcome to see the parade! For more info: Jennifer.Till@pgcps.org.

4.      Mayor’s Halloween Bash– Mayor Miles is having her annual Halloween Bash at her house at 4517 30^th Street starting at 5:30pm. Stop by for popcorn, cotton candy, hot dog, hamburger, hot cider and, of course, candy!

5.     Trick or Eat-this program encourages teens and adults to enjoy Halloween by dressing up and roaming the neighborhood. Instead of asking for candy, they collect food for the hungry. At the end of the evening, they deliver the food to a central location— at the homes of Danielle Carter & Bryan Miller(3202 Shepherd  -opposite MRE School) or Pamela Strother & Margaret Boozer(3711 Perry). You can donate to a roving volunteer or bring a non-perishable item to these two homes directly. After tonight, you can drop off non-perishable items to the Police Station or City Hall. For more info, please contact Krista Clark who is organizing this effort- diligentkrista@yahoo.com or City Clerk Da’rrell Belton, DBelton@MountRainierMD.org.

6.     Thank You for Sunday’s Costume Party and Parade–

I moved to Mount Rainier right before Halloween in 2005. I was so impressed at how seriously people took Halloween- decorating their homes and creating a safe neighborhood for trick or treaters that even gaggles of kids from neighboring communities came to the city. Our next door neighbors David and Carter were dressed to the hilt- even their dogs were dutifully wearing costumes. Carter had built a coffin to jump out of as kids came up the walkway.  That first Halloween about 400 people came to our house. Not expecting so many, our neighbors, Bruce and Rhoda Bush, were so generous that they gave us some of their Halloween decorations and even their candy. What a community!

Years later, when I started on City Council in 2015, I had several different families ask me whether we could do something fun and safe for kids to dress up in their Halloween costumes in the daytime/ over a weekend. Hence, this event was born. Thank you to everyone who dressed up and came to Sunday’s Halloween Party, Costume Contest, and Parade on Sunday. It was a lot of fun. People chatted with their neighbors, took pictures of their kids all dressed up, ate a lot of candy, pizza, bean dip, and fruit. Every kid contestant won a prize (e.g. big lollipop, fidget spinner). Each category had 2-4 winners who won a little something extra (e.g. fireman’s hat, coloring book, purse, wand).

Thank you to our City Staff-

–          To Code Enforcement for coordinating the volunteers.

–          To everyone who flyered!- staff and volunteers

–          To Da’rrell, the City Clerk and Councilmember Celina Benitez for help in getting the word out on social media.

–          To Shawn, Victor, Pedro, and Darren of Public Works for helping set up and break down the party.

–          To Jared and Chris of MRTV for photos and video of the event. They will post photos soon.

–          To AC Malley and others in MRPD for getting word out while doing their community policing, and Officers Herriot and Mast for providing security for the event and the parade. To Officer Mast who gave Junior Mount Rainier Police badges.

–          Councilmember Celina Benitez and Shawn of Public Works who judged the Costume Contest.

–          To Dorothy in the Finance Department for processing reimbursements

–          To City Manager Miranda Braatz for coordinating her staff before and during the events and for managing the prize tables.

Thank you

–          To Brooke Kidd, Jennifer, Gustavo and Emmanuel at Joe’s Movement Emporium

–          To Dollar General for donating candy

–          To Jason Walker, Brentwood resident and parent of MRE students, and drummer extraordinaire for leading the parade with Deepak Shenoy.

–          To my sister, Mauli Shah for helping set up.

–          Thank you to my husband in particular for helping with setting up and breaking down the party, for leading the parade on drums with Jason Walker, and for tolerating the fact that for two weeks it looked like a party store exploded in our house (as it does each time we do Halloween and the Spring Egg Hunt).

Grateful to live in a such a great community,

Stay safe and alert tonight!

Shivali

Your Friendly Neighborhood Councilwoman

City of Mount Rainier, MD