'Trick-or-Treat on Center Street' is a fun, family-friendly Halloween extravaganza

Free events return to Lewiston on Sunday, Oct. 26

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

Halloween can be scary – and not just in a Michael Myers/Pennywise kind of way. Parents of young children have to map out routes for their little ones to safely negotiate roadways and consider where their kids are getting candy from.

Mindful of this challenge, members of the Lewiston business community banded together to create “Trick-or-Treat on Center Street.”

“It all started with a couple of businesses coming together a few years back,” co-organizer and Inspirations on Canvas owner/artist Kathy Pignatora said. “It really just started off as a safe place for kids to trick-or-treat. And at that point, we really thought we'd get 100 or 200 kids – and that day that we did it, we blew through the candy.

“We had no idea how much this was needed, and it's just grown ever since.”

“Trick-or-Treat on Center Street” debuted in 2019, expanded with the closing of Center Street (from Seventh to Fourth streets) in 2023, and, last year, surpassed 3,000 pieces of candy given out to youngsters.

The safe, family-friendly Halloween celebration returns Sunday, Oct. 26, with events and activities from noon to 3 p.m. stretching across Center Street and over to the Red Brick Municipal Building on North Fourth Street.

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Pignatora said “Trick-or-Treat on Center Street” continues to grow, “in collaboration with the village, who have been amazing; Shannon (Fundis), the village clerk; and the mayor, Anne (Welch), have been so supportive of the event; the (Upward Niagara) Chamber has been right on board with it; and the other businesses just climb on board, because they realize this is about giving back to the community and nothing else. It's really about just thanking everybody for coming out and supporting us all year long, and us just sort of putting ourselves out there for the kids and the families in not just Lewiston, but the surrounding area. We get families from all over, and everybody's welcome.”

“It feels like it's just getting to be better and better every year,” she added. “I'm really, really proud of this event. It makes me just feel good.”

Pictured, playfully posing for Halloween, are some of “Trick-or-Treat on Center Street” team members: (front row) DiMino’s Lewiston Tops Manager John DiMino, Upward Niagara Chamber of Commerce President Amanda Haseley, Jamie Brower of Viva Nostalgia, Richie Pysz of Lewiston Estates & Antiques, (second row) Village of Lewiston Clerk Shannon Fundis and Kathy Pignatora of Inspirations on Canvas.

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‘Trick-or-Treat’ and meet-and-greet

Among the highlights of this year’s “Trick-or-Treat on Center Street”:

•Lewiston Public Library and Lewiston Garden Club/Beautification Committee volunteers will be on hand with activities for children.

•The Lewiston Police Department and Lewiston Fire Co. No. 1 will have vehicles on display, and surprises, too.

•There will be animatronics along the street, and special performances by Lewiston Dance and Adell’s School of Dance.

•And, yeah, there will be candy. Lots and lots of candy, courtesy of Lewiston merchants.

“It is expensive. I mean, gosh, like everything has gone up in price. I'm sure other people have noticed the cost of candy, per bag – it's increased quite a bit,” Pignatora said. “So, we've had some really nice donations. A really amazing thing that started last year was Richie (Pysz) from Lewiston Estates & Antiques – who has an incredible collection of Halloween animatronics that blow my mind – he came up with the idea last year of, ‘Let's do a fundraiser during Harvest & Hops Fest.’ And he did a little haunted house, and we just asked for donations for we call it ‘the candy fund,’ and that helped out tremendously last year and this year. Each year, we've raised close to $500.

“It certainly helps offset, but it's something each of the stores are taking on to make sure that we can give the candy to the kids.”

•DiMino’s Lewiston Tops is moving its annual Halloween festivities to the start of the trick-or-treat route.

Supermarket Floral Lead Melissa Barnes said, “This year, we're not going to be here at the store like we normally have. We're going to be in the thick of it down on Center Street; and the best way for us to do that is we're going to do a trunk-or-treat. So, we're going to have our delivery van down there, and we're going to have it all decorated up and everything.”

Approximately 2,000 bags will be available.

“We are going to have a bag that's big enough to trick-or-treat,” Barnes said.

Each bag will also contain an assortment of goodies.

Of course, all month long, “We've got all of the fun treats (at Tops), if you're having get-togethers and everything,” Barnes said. “We've got the pumpkins for carving. You want to try to get them early, because it seems that everyone last minute is trying to get pumpkins. And hopefully we still have some. It depends on what we can get from our farmers, because we always get local.

“And then also that weekend, we will be doing the associate costume contest. You'll see the associates dressed up. So, if you just want to come and see if Beetlejuice is cutting the deli meat this year or something, it'll be interesting!”

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•Over at the Red Brick, the Village of Lewiston Recreation Department’s “Halloween Spooktacular” begins with costume fun run on Center Street. Racing commences at 11:30 a.m. at the corner of Center and Fourth streets. In order to participate in the half-mile kids run, parents must register their child(ren) online at: https://villageoflewistonny.gov/halloween-spooktacular.

Additional Recreation Department activities at the Red Brick take place from noon to 3 p.m. Each one is free. The lineup includes a costume dance party with DJ PNasty, the “Haunted Hallway,” and photo opportunities with The Salem Sisters.

Village of Lewiston Recreation Director Brendan McDermott said, “This is one of our favorite events of the year! We are always amazed at the number of families we have out for the ‘Halloween Spooktakular.’ Each year we try to make it bigger and better!”

“Trick-or-Treat on Center Street” is presented by the Lewiston Business Group. For more information, visit https://www.facebook.com/LewistonBusinessGroup.

Also:

Press Release

The First Presbyterian Church of Lewiston and Lewiston Artisan Farmers Market will host the second annual community Halloween trunk-or-treat from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, in the back parking lot adjacent to the church social hall at 505 Cayuga St. The event is free and open to all in the community to either participate with decorated cars and trunks, or to bring the family for tricks or treats, spooktacular giveaways and fun games for all ages.

The church is handicapped accessible. Parking is available on the street or in a large lot in the back.