Monterey Park residents celebrate Halloween at the City of Monterey Park’s Monster Mash on Oct. 17 from 4 to 7 PM.
The event featured various food trucks, giveaways, carnival games, and more. Some of the food trucks included Woodfire Pies, which sold pizza, Patty Meets Bun, which sold burgers and a dessert truck called Fluff Ice.
Families dressed in their Halloween costumes and collected candies from the various booths. There was also a haunted house where families entered and got candies.
Jennifer Pina, an event attendee who was there with her family, said she came to the event to spend Halloween together with her family in a fun, safe environment.
From 6 to 7 PM, a crowd of families gathered to watch the musical dance party featuring Kids Imagine Nation.
Pina’s family and friends shared that their favorite parts of the event were dancing, watching the show by Imagine Nation Kids, getting candies, entering the haunted house, looking at people’s cool costumes and watching the Dodger game.
They also shared some of their favorite costumes they saw during the event which were a dinosaur, a palm reader and a unicorn.
Another event attendee, Isabel Jimenez said her favorite part of the event was bringing her little sister to collect candies. Jiminez added that her sister’s favorite part of the event was getting to wear her costume.
Rachel Charest, from Kids Imagine Nation, shared that events like this one are, “so important for the community.”
Charest added, “[These events] are sponsored by the city and the library so that means that the community gets to come for free. They don’t have to pay to come to these events which is so exciting because they get a show like ours that we provide usually at theme parks where you would have to pay an admission price to see it – but the community provides that for free, so kids can come out and celebrate and have a Halloween party that is free to attend.”
There were also various event sponsors such as Chick-fil-A, Children’s Dental Funzone, Zoom Recreation and more. Long lines awaited the Chick-fil-A and the Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers booth.
Charest said her favorite part of the event was “definitely the show because I am passionate about singing and sharing that with kids. And just empowering children to be themselves, to have fun, and to live out loud.”
There was also a TV that showed the Los Angeles Dodgers vs New York Mets baseball game which many people stayed to watch after the monster mash ended.
When the event ended, many people shifted to the farmers’ market which is hosted at the park every Thursday from 4 – 9 PM.
