We’ve mist you
Take a chilling stroll at Lincoln City’s Spooky Spectacular
With its antique furniture, wood-paneled walls and twisting staircases, Lincoln City’s Anchor Inn was the perfect venue to decorate as a spooky Halloween location for candy seeking kids. But the same characteristics that made it cozily creepy, also caused it to be quickly outgrown as the venue for the popular Spooky Spectacular event.
With the support of Taft Elementary School, the Lincoln City Kiwanis Club and other community organizations, a plan was hatched to host the increasingly popular event at the school, a place with long, wide hallways and ample parking. Teachers embraced the idea, dressing in costume and handing out candy from their classrooms.
The Spooky Spectacular continued to grow until 2020, when COVID forced organizers to re-invent the event for the age of social distancing.
Thus was born the Spooky Spectacular drive-through, hosted at the Lincoln City Outlets.
“Because of all the restrictions we were facing, what we did was say yes to Kiwanis when they approached us to provide a spot for a drive-through experience,” said General Manager Sharyn Jasmer. “We all took every precaution, even taking the temperature of people that were handling pre-wrapped candy and using extendable grabbers to hand it out.”
The drive-through continued in 2021 as a second wave of COVID swept the community.
This year, organizers are thrilled that they can once again host a walking event, and have bumped up the experience to make it truly memorable.
“We’ve added some new displays to surprise and delight at every turn,” Jasmer said. “It is still a community experience because of all the people involved, and we are also trying to honor other cultural traditions, like this year we will have an ofrenda.”
An ofrenda is an altar where people leave remembrances of loved ones who have passed away and is associated with the Mexican Día de los Muertos celebration.
But in the end, it's all about the sweets.
“There has been about 2,900 pounds of taffy alone purchased and donated this year — that’s over a ton of taffy,” Jasmer said. “With that and all the other candy we’ve had donated, we estimated that each kid would have to walk out with six pounds of candy for us to run out, which is a great place to be. But it’s too much, so we ended up donating to other places. So we are sharing the wealth as long as making sure we have enough for our event.”
Tooth Fairies handing out Halloween-themed toothbrushes and an online costume contest for all ages will make the adults happy, too.
The Spooky Spectacular runs from 5 to 7:30 pm on Monday, Oct. 31, in the lower parking lot at the Lincoln City Outlets, 1500 SE East Devils Lake Road. For more information, go to lincolncitykiwanis.org or to the Lincoln City Kiwanis Club page on Facebook.