The city of Clearlake would like to extend our sincere appreciation to our city staff, members of the police department and our special volunteers who helped deliver a safe and magical Halloween to the children of our community.

City staff decorated the corridors of City Hall, as they majestically created the spirit of Halloween so that children could enjoy the enchantment of the season. Our staff masqueraded in various attire, creating the ambiance that was enjoyed by children and parents alike. Several hundred children and parents paraded into our corridors wearing various attire which reflected the spirit of the festivities.

The success of our event would not have been possible without the overwhelming support of our community.

Our sincere gratitude to Cecil’s Take and Bake Pizza who donated an endless supply of freshly baked pizzas to feed our children and parents. To ensure the children and parents received hot pizzas, Cecil’s Take and Bake Pizza continuously delivered hot pizzas throughout the entire evening. Foods Etc.’s generous, yearly donation to the festivities included 200 specially baked Halloween cookies along with numerous gallons of punch to ensure our many thirsty children and parents would share in a fun time. Their donation was complete with napkins, plates and cups.

Halloween would not be complete without the traditional candy that Halloween generates.

Wal-Mart generously donated an abundant supply of candy in order that all children would be able to leave our corridors with reflective Halloween bags filled with many goodies. The city of Clearlake and Konocti Unified School District partnered together to have the reflective Halloween bags available for the children with the imprint” Don’t Be Tricked, Drugs are no Treat” in order to celebrate Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon Week is a nationally recognized and celebrated drug prevention campaign for our youth, promoting a positive message that will help create a drug free community.

Our appreciation is also extended to the Record Bee, Clearlake Observer-American and Lakeconews.com for their pre-coverage of our event. Their efforts of early reporting helped inform the community of the forthcoming festivities that would be taking place at City Hall. The attendance at this event was overwhelmingly popular with a record number of attendees.

This event once again left a lasting memory in the eyes of the children and parents of our community. It was our pleasure to offer the children of our community a safe alternative to trick or treating in unknown neighborhoods. We would like to express our appreciation to all of the parents and children who attended our festivities.

Our Halloween festivities are now an annual event for children as the city of Clearlake continues to find ways to support the youth of our community. We look forward to seeing all of you again next year as new additions will continually be added to our Halloween festivities.

Judy Thein is vice mayor of the city of Clearlake.