Hamden Halloween parties provide ‘safe space’ for area youths during ‘dangerous time’

HAMDEN — Character costumes ranging from Disney princesses and Marvel superheroes to clowns and zombies turned a gymnasium at the town’s school district central office Monday night spook-tacular.

Hundreds of kids and adults were “off the streets” for two safe, back-to-back Halloween parties, which featured a disc jockey booth, dance floor, selfie station, costume contest, arts and craft stations, free food and fun. The first party was geared toward the younger, K-8 crowd while the later one attracted high schoolers.

Lakahn Harris of New Haven was there with three children who were dressed as a cheerleader, a dinosaur and a witch. She said she usually takes her kids trick-or-treating on the streets, but not this year, given what has been happening in the community.

“With all the violence and stuff that’s going on, I thought this was a real good idea for the kids to come out and have fun,” Harris said. “With so much going on, and the shooting and the killing, I just felt like it’s safer at this point to have them inside.”

She said her concern wasn’t about putting her kids on the streets but more about the already-existing violence on the streets.

That was the whole goal of the event: to keep Hamden and regional kids safe, organizers said. The parties were hosted by We Are The Village and Hamden Youth Services, with help from Hamden Police Department and student volunteers from Quinnipiac University.

“Sometimes, Halloween can be a dangerous time,” said Melissa Atterberry-Jones of We Are The Village. “Hopefully, it will get better. Hopefully, this is the worst of the worst and it will turn around. But until then, even after then, we will be here to make sure our kids are safe.”

Hamden has been seeing crimes and violence in the past months, including an armed carjacking and a targeted shooting that both took place less than two weeks prior to Halloween night.

Shootings during a September weekend that struck houses with bullets also left residents near the New Haven border feeling unsafe. And that’s after three shootings, in the course of a week in summer 2021, killing two and injuring one.

The turnout at the parties Monday night was better than the organizers expected.  Susan Rubino, coordinator at Hamden Youth Services, said people are “a little more reticent” about going door to door, and the parties are accessible and affordable to everyone.

“There’s a lot of mischief that goes on Halloween night, I mean it’s been like that for ages,” Rubino said. “For little kids, it can be a little intimidating for them to go out into neighborhoods that they don’t feel safe in.”

Rubino said it’s important to offer the youth “positive alternatives,” not only on Halloween night, and Youth Services is trying to bring these events to southern Hamden as much as it can.

“There are many good kids,” she said. “Unfortunately, there isn’t enough safe space to support them.”

Cameron Joyner from Hamden Youth Services joined the party as Bowser from the Mario franchise. He said his girlfriend dressed up as Peach and his two sons dressed up as Mario and Luigi.

“We got this whole family, this Mario world going on,” Joyner said.

As a parent, Joyner said sending his kids trick-or-treating in the streets of Hamden comes with concerns around kidnapping, gun violence and traffic accidents.

“The streets right now are dangerous. We feel like we need to have one designated place for the kids to come and have fun with security and police around,” he said. “They’ll be much safer.”

Leshawn McCoy of Hamden brought his 5-year-old to the earlier party as Spider-Man — of course, among at least five other Spider-Mans.

“I decided to bring my kid because he lives in the community, plus I feel it’s safe, plus interact with other community kids,” he said. “I appreciate what they do giving back to the community on holidays, just showing support.”

chatwan.mongkol@hearstmediact.com