Officials with the City of Santa Clarita are set to provide contactless Halloween entertainment to thousands of residents over the next two days as part of the first ever “Haunted Highway” and “Scarecrow Alley” events in Canyon Country.
On Thursday and Friday, an estimated 2,000 vehicles will pass through the George A. Caravalho Santa Clarita Sports Complex parking lot on the 20800 block of Centre Pointe Parkway in Canyon Country, where their passengers will get to experience the first-ever “Haunted Highway” and “Scarecrow Alley” events.
“It’s basically an immersive Halloween experience that folks get to drive through in a contactless way and experience all of the fun of Halloween,” said Kyle Lopez, arts and events supervisor for the City of Santa Clarita.
At the start of the event, which was put together by the City of Santa Clarita’s Recreation & Community Services Department, participants drive up past the Santa Clarita Aquatic Center, viewing over two dozen scarecrows assembled and submitted by various members of the community as part of “Scarecrow Alley.”
Photo by Jenna Brown.
Then, once they reach the lot behind the sports complex, participants arrive at the entrance archway for “Haunted Highway,” a contactless Halloween experience made up of roughly a dozen “scenes” put together by various divisions of the Recreation & Community Services Department.
“People are craving something to do and something to bond over,” Lopez said. “By being able to come to something like this, they’re able to live that Halloween experience that normally right now they wouldn’t be able to have because everything is socially distanced and really been cancelled for the year.”
See Related: Five Ways To Safely Celebrate Halloween In Santa Clarita For 2020
During the employee preview of the event Wednesday night, city staff voiced how excited they were to be able to put on an event, as many within the city’s recreation department had not been able to do so since Light Up Main Street at the end of 2019.
“We’re just excited as a department and as a city to be able to offer something to the community,” Lopez said. “To finally be able to offer something that people can do and enjoy makes us happy and, just in general, we’re happy to be able to do something that we love to do.”
Traditionally, the Recreation & Community Services Department puts on several different Halloween events, such as a zombie run or a haunted house. However, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic halted all of those.
“Obviously none of those things can happen, so this was kind of a collective effort of the entire department to put together something that folks would be able to do to still celebrate the Halloween spirit,” Lopez said.
Photo by Jenna Brown.
City staff hope that the event gives Santa Clarita residents something to connect over, as many have struggled to maintain healthy connections with others during the pandemic.
“Maybe their friends are in another car, but they’re still going through that experience and can relate with one another about something so exciting, and still kind of live the fun and whimsy of Halloween,” Lopez said.
Lopez went on to say that she believes that “Scarecrow Alley” and “Haunted Highway” can both be either carried over or incorporated into future Halloween celebrations, even after the social distancing requirements prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic are no longer necessary.
“I do think that it’s something that we will see happening in the future,” she said. “I think we’re just excited to have people be involved and to be able to provide something like this to the community.”
While reservations were required for the “Haunted Highway” event, residents can still view the scarecrows in “Scarecrow Alley” on Halloween from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Photo by Jenna Brown.
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