Thursday, October 2, 2008

Grand Prairie’s Halloween Nights light park more treat than trick

By Kirk Dickey of Grand Prairie TODAY

GRAND PRAIRIE — Smiling skeletons and friendly phantasms will greet visitors to Halloween Nights, Grand Prairie's latest holiday lighting attraction.

Planned for Oct. 24 - Nov. 1 in QuikTrip Park at Grand Prairie, organizers say the kid-friendly Halloween will emphasize fun over fear. And by doing so, the city hopes to draw on an untapped market.

“In recent years, commercial ventures have all focused on young adults and older teenagers,” Parks and Recreation Special Events Coordinator Beverly Grogan said. “The scarier the better. And it's a huge industry.

“What we want to do is create a fun, safe opportunity for kids to play on Halloween. It's really filling a niche that other places don't. And that is putting the fun in Halloween without a scary touch.”

The city is teaming up with Lightasmic, the company that created the Holiday Magic lighting show at Prairie Lights last year. Grogan said the idea was born of the city's collaboration on that project.

“Halloween is one of (Lightasmic founder Josh Barnett's) passions, right next to Christmas,” Grogan said. “He's really created some exciting things for us to do at Halloween Nights.”

Large lighted displays will surround the ballpark's warning track and others will fill the concourse around the park. Grogan said the displays will err on the fun side of the holiday, like dancing skeletons and laughing pumpkins, steering clear of the fear.

There will be carnival games and activities around the concourse as well, manned by the city's recreation center staff, Grand Ranger volunteers, community service groups and Great Texas Scholars. There will be activities like hay mazes, a ring toss and “skeleton soccer.”

The Wide World of Parks will be open, utilizing glow-in-the-dark balls and there will be a pumpkin patch with photos available.

There will be concessions and a gift shop for children as well. QuikTrip Park's restaurant Whiskey Charlie's also will be open.

The city hopes the tourism opportunities the light show opens up will also entice people to come back to Grand Prairie for Prairie Lights beginning in late November, or possibly for an AirHogs baseball game at QuikTrip Park in the spring.

“They see our stadium and, bingo, we are creating a new demographic opportunity for the AirHogs as well,” Grogan said.

In a presentation to the Grand Prairie City Council, Councilman Tony Shotwell wanted assurances that the city was not abandoning its other Halloween events in favor of this. Grogan assured him the city would still do its other programs, such as trunk-or-treat, and hayrides in Loyd Park.

Look for more information about Halloween Nights in future editions of this newspaper.

Pegasus News content partner - Grand Prairie TODAY

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• Holidays > Halloween
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