Bell Gardens hosted a Halloween carnival and a Dia de los Muertos exhibition on Oct. 31 from 5 to 8 p.m.
It was a free family event that included photo stations, food trucks, game booths, a costume contest and more.
“We always come every year to bring the kids,” event attendee, Venecia Linares said.
Linares explained that her favorite part of the event was “the community gathering together and making it a safe space.”
There was a section at the event to celebrate Dia de los Muertos where families could remember their loved ones through the exhibition.
There was also a trunk-or-treat section, where various departments from Bell Gardens distributed candies, including the city clerk, Daisy Gomez.
“This is my first time participating in the Halloween event and it’s really to distribute candies or other fun things that maybe are needed like pencils, bookmarkers and little knick knacks for the kids,” Gomez shared.
As she passed out candies, Gomez explained the car design was purge-themed. She said, “Our design is primarily more like a zombie type of theme and it’s giving off to my city clerk theme because we purge records.”
Gomez added her favorite part of the event was, “seeing the different costumes and getting to know the neighbors in our community. I think the [community] interacting with us – so when they see us anywhere in the area, they will know that there is a friendly face they can communicate with.”
While a crowd awaited the costume contest at the stage area, families entered various zones and game booths. Some of the zones were face painting, loteria, bingo and a clown zone where attendees could enter the spooky section to be frightened by several clowns.
At 7 PM, attendees who dressed up participated in the costume contest. There were different categories that the judges voted for such as the most creative costume or the spookiest costume.
Carina Jiminez, an event attendee said she likes that the event provides candies that are safe for children to eat and how the event brings the community together like family.
