GREENVILLE — Costumed children and adults packed downtown Greenville on Thursday night for the annual Halloween Parade, filling Broadway from Annie Oakley Park to beyond the downtown traffic circle during Main Street Greenville’s Beggars Night festivities.
Pleasant weather helped draw a crowd that Greenville Mayor Jeff Whitaker estimated included well over 1,000 trick-or-treaters. Families gathered along Broadway for an evening of candy, costumes and community celebration.
“Last night’s parade was a very spectacular event,” Whitaker said Friday. “We had … well over 1,000 trick-or-treaters downtown, but the organization of it was incredible, thanks to Rachel Neal.”
Whitaker credited Neal, participating businesses and volunteers for helping make the evening a success. He said support came from throughout Greenville, showing the value of broad community involvement in downtown activities.
“We’ve had businesses from all over town and volunteers from all over town contribute to the success of that,” Whitaker said. “I have seen nothing but pure excitement and positive comments about last night’s event, and I’m just thrilled.”
The costume contest featured four categories: children ages 0-5, children ages 6-12, ages 13 through adults, and costume groups of all ages. Each category offered $30 for first place, $20 for second and $10 for third.
Prizes were presented at the fountain on the traffic circle. Zechar Bailey Funeral Homes again sponsored an additional $100 grand prize for the overall best costume.
Greg Zechar, manager and funeral director at Zechar Bailey Funeral Home, helped judge the competition in addition to sponsoring the event.
“We provided the grand prize for the best costume for the event, and I also served as a judge for one of the categories,” Zechar said.
For Zechar, the turnout stood out even after five years of judging costumes at the event.
“I have never seen that many people on downtown Broadway,” he said.
Zechar said the evening also demonstrated the community’s willingness to help. When organizers worried about having enough candy, residents and businesses stepped in.
“It’s amazing how the community came together because I know they were having issues getting candy, and the community came together and got enough candy for everyone,” Zechar said.
He described the celebration as one of the best events he has attended this year and said supporting local children is a major reason he continues to participate.
“I love just giving back to the community, especially to the kids,” Zechar said. “I’ve judged for five years now. This is one of the best groups I’ve had, and definitely by far the largest.”
Whitaker, who stayed throughout the festivities, also praised the children’s behavior and the friendly atmosphere.
“The kids in this town are very polite,” he said.
The mayor said the successful evening reflected enthusiasm for downtown Greenville. He pointed to investments by downtown building and property owners as another encouraging sign for the community.
“The amount of investment in downtown Greenville by the building owners, the property owners downtown, is incredible, and it’s just going to keep going,” Whitaker said.
With favorable weather, crowded sidewalks, and support from businesses and volunteers, the Halloween celebration provided a festive close to October’s downtown activities.
“It certainly was,” Whitaker said. “It was a great event.”
