KANSAS CITY, Mo. — 'Twas a bootiful night for Halloween in Kansas City after the pandemic scared away many witches and warlocks. This year they’re back saying, "Let the ghoul times roll."
It’s the most frightful time of the year in the 18th and Vine District as cute little monsters pick their poison, or candy, at the 27th annual Negro League Baseball Museum's Night of the Harvest Moon Children’s Festival. An event Negro Leagues Baseball Museum President Bob Kendrick says he’s happy to put on.
“This is one event that we were determined to do because I know how much it means to the community, and as you can see, the young people who are coming out getting to enjoy this in a culturally enriched environment,” Kendrick said.
Although the festival was not canceled last year, Kendrick says the festivities were not the same.
“When we got to October of last year, we made the decision that we would move it to outside, do it in a trunk-or-treat environment so there would be a low touch kind of experience, and felt pretty good about the outdoor safety opportunity involved with it,” Kendrick said.
In 2020, not only was the Night of the Harvest Moon Children’s Festival not the same but the pandemic affected trick-or-treating for many kids and their families, including Yindia Akers.
"We really couldn’t do much. We stayed in the house, went to a friend's house and just chilled with probably six kids max,” Akers said.
But this year her kids can’t stop asking witch way to the candy.
“I just had to come out here to make them smile,” Akers said.
And over at The Beast in West Bottoms, it’s howl-o-ween central as haunted house lovers return for ghastly greetings.
“A year without that it just doesn’t feel like Halloween, so getting to interact with all the scary actors it even beats getting it through a screen — there's nothing better than going to a haunted house this time of year,” said Jasmine Sherwood, Halloween enthusiast.
She like many others is simply creeping it real this Halloween.
“Last year I was staying at home studying to become a nursing student, and this year I’m so glad to be able to hang out with my best friends and to go to the haunted houses," said Kyle Redmond, haunted house-goer.
