Some Winnipeg parents are trading in Halloween tricks for safer treats this All Hallows’ Eve because of concerns about crime and tainted candy.
Cheryl Summerly and her children participated in a “trunk or treat” event at the Bord Aire Community Centre in St. James last weekend as an alternative to going door-to-door.
The daytime event, borne out of the COVID-19 pandemic, invites kids to take part in Halloween festivities in a controlled environment. Car owners decorated in ghoulish garb are invited to hand out candy from their trunks and activities are available to participants.
Ruth Bonneville / Free Press
Pastor Graham Hunt and his staff are busy preparing for hundreds of kids to enjoy a fun evening of games, races and candy at their Light up the Night alternative Halloween party.
“It was in 2021 right after the pandemic and everyone was being very cautious, we figured it would be safer,” Summerly said.
After door-to-door handouts resumed in full, the mother of three continued to attend the event, which takes place the weekend before Halloween each year, for better control of what goes in her kids’ candy bags.
“I fully trust the people we get the candy from,” she said, citing an incident in Tuxedo two years ago in which multiple children received cannabis-laced candies packaged to look like Nerds Rope sweets.
St. James parent Casey Gutierrez and her three children have been partaking in the event at Bord Aire since 2021 and says the event is a way to get to know her community and ensure her children and their candy’s safety.
This year, her kids — disguised as anime character Naruto, Little Red Riding Hood and a dragon — ran from car to car gathering treats and Gutierrez had little concern as to where, or who, the treats came from.
“It’s a lot of fun for them and I don’t have to worry,” she said.
Plus, the gathering feels safer than taking her kids t0 neighbourhoods or areas she perceives as unsafe.
“With a holiday like this you have adults you don’t know approaching kids… this is the prime time they can have access to them,” she said.
Const. Rachel Vertone of the Winnipeg Police Service crime prevention and diversity unit advised parents to stay vigilant and said children should be discouraged from wielding costume accessories that resemble weapons such as knives and machetes.
Four people have been attacked by knives or machetes in Winnipeg since last Thursday, according to WPS news releases.
“You can be spooky and scary, but do your best not to have things that look like weapons,” Vertone said, adding there are no plans to have additional officers patrolling the streets Thursday night. “Our main concern is everyone’s safety.”
Spooky costumes are discouraged at the family friendly event scheduled at Springfield Heights Mennonite Church. Meanwhile, the Church of the Rock holds an annual indoor event with candy, prizes, games, laser tag and hot chocolate and coffee for parents, and more than 300 kids are expected to partake.
The Halloween bash is used as a safer alternative to traditional trick-or-treating, and has seen an increase in participants in recent years, pastor Graham Hunt said.
“You can be spooky and scary, but do your best not to have things that look like weapons.”–WPS Const. Rachel Vertone
“There’s been years where people have been concerned about certain households putting drugs or stuff in candies that police have warned families about, but we’re very careful about where we buy the candy and we know where it’s coming from,” he said.
Police are encouraging parents to thoroughly look through their children’s treats.
Summerly’s system is to pick through each child’s bag for anything that might have holes or rips in the packaging. If it doesn’t look right, she throws it out.
The 2022 cannabis candy story hit home for the Charleswood mother of three, given the proximity to her neighbourhood.
“It scares you because it’s like, would I have caught that? It definitely made me reconsider a few things, because looking at the neighbourhood you wouldn’t expect it,” she said. “Now, if I don’t recognize it they can’t have it.”
Police received several complaints from parents who said that among the items their children returned home with on Halloween night in 2022 were the candies, which contained 600 mg of tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive ingredient in cannabis.
None of the children who reported receiving the candies had eaten them, police said at the time.
Tammy Sigurdur pleaded guilty in September 2023 to distributing the candies inadvertently and she was fined $5,000 last March. Charges against Sheldon Chochinov, Sigurdur’s husband, were stayed.
nicole.buffie@freepress.mb.ca
Nicole Buffie
Multimedia producer
Nicole Buffie is a multimedia producer who reports for the Free Press city desk. Born and bred in Winnipeg, Nicole graduated from Red River College’s Creative Communications program in 2020 and worked as a reporter throughout Manitoba before joining the Free Press newsroom in 2023. Read more about Nicole.
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