Although Coronavirus precautions are still in place, the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted a Halloween weekend extravaganza. Consisting of spooky drive-in movies, as well as a trick or treat drive-thru on Halloween day, the festivities kicked off on Thursday, Oct. 29.
Simi Valley’s Halloweekend began at Rancho Santa Susana Community Park with a drive-in screening of The Addams Family.
Gates to the parking lot opened at 5:30 p.m. and before the movie began at 7 p.m., the people were entertained with a mix of various Halloween-themed songs playing through speakers, as well as the choice to participate in car bingo.
Coordinator Samantha Shapiro wanted a way for the community to celebrate Halloween, all while keeping safe.
“I was like, ‘What can we do that will be fun and bring the community together, but is still safe?’ and so I was like, ‘Halloween! There’s so many cool Halloween movies,'” Shapiro expressed.
Representatives from the Kiwanis Club of Simi Valley and the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce were also present. With pop up tents ready, they prepared and sold food to the public.
Nellann Wilson, past President of the Kiwanis Club of Simi Valley, shared the process of how the club is handling COVID-19 for Halloweekend.
“For this event we had to get special permission through the health department ‘cause there’s a lot of things like… we would have normally just handed you a fork (and now) we have to do this,” Wilson stated, showing all utensils pre-wrapped in plastic.
Wilson also commented on the film of the evening, The Addams Family.
“My granddaughters have put it on all weekend. I’ve seen a piece here, and a piece there,” Wilson laughed.
The Kiwanis Club of Simi Valley was present all of Halloweekend. Funds made by the club this weekend will go back to Simi Valley, towards whichever program or organization is in need of assistance.
Attendee Andrew Kurtz of Oak Park was present at the drive-in and explained why he thought it was a good idea to attend with his two young sons.
“We wanted to get out of the house and we thought it would be fun to do something for Halloween; and they haven’t really done drive-in theaters before so I thought that might be something new,” Kurtz explained.
Kurtz’s sons, Jackson and Cole, had already seen The Addams Family but were just as eager to watch it again on the big screen.
Andrew Kurtz also revealed their plans for Halloween, which included coming back to the park for Halloweekend.
“We’re going to a couple of drive-thru things, one in Oak Park and one actually here,” Kurtz stated.
Marques Crutchfield, who assisted with screen setup, commented on the Chamber of Commerce’s decision to host Halloweekend.
“I think the Chamber wanted to provide an opportunity for families to have something to do kind of, for Halloween,” Crutchfield shared.
A drive-in screening of Hocus Pocus was hosted at the same location on Friday, Oct. 30 for the community. Following this, on Halloween day, a trick or treat drive-thru was hosted.
More information from the events can be found at Rancho Simi Recreation and Parks District.
