FERNDALE, Wash. — While the Washington State and Whatcom County Health Departments published their concerns heading out trick-or-treating on Halloween, others have announced their Halloween themed contests and events to be held in and around the Ferndale area this year.
Indoor trick-or-treating, trunk-or-treats, indoor haunted houses and other similar Halloween gatherings are similarly discouraged by county and state health department staff.
While staff in the state and county health departments are discouraging traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they do recommend the following for trick-or-treaters:
- keep 6′ from members of other households
- wear a cloth face covering or mask if older than 2 – plastic masks are not a substitute
- wash hands before and after trick-or-treating
Washington Department of Health also provided the following recommendations for giving out treats to the trick-or-treaters:
- hand out individually wrapped treats or bags
- do not encourage grabbing treats from a common container (e.g. a bowl)
- when possible, make treats available in a large area to prevent crowding (e.g. driveway, porch, yard)
Ferndale area activities leading up to Halloween include:
- Ferndale Downtown Association Pumpkin People Contest
- Downtown businesses are encouraged to assemble a scene of “pumpkin people” following this year’s theme of celebrating holidays missed this year. Scenes should be set up and FDA notified by October 12th. People will vote for their favorite scene starting the weekend of October 23rd and a winner announced October 30th.
- City of Ferndale Halloween Decorating Contest
- Residents in Ferndale are encouraged to put up Halloween decorations and contact the city to receive a yard sign with an identifying number to be used by passersby to vote for your decorations. A map will be published with all the entries as well. The highest scoring houses will receive gift cards donated by Woods Coffee. Anyone who scores more than 5 Halloween decorations will be entered into a drawing for Woods Coffee gift cards.
- Whatcom County Chambers “Trip-or-Treat”
- Bellingham, Birch Bay, Blaine, Ferndale, Lynden and Mt. Baker Chambers are publishing an online map indicating locations around Whatcom County where drive-up trick-or-treating will be provided on Friday, October 30th. Ferndale businesses and organizations interested in providing drive-up trick-or-treating are asked to contact the Ferndale Chamber of Commerce.