(Photo Illustration/MetroCreative)

MARIETTA –The 37th Halloween in the Park party will take place at noon Saturday at the Washington County Fairgrounds.

The event is free to attend and offers candy, games and fun for both children and their families.

Halloween in the Park is aimed at the youth, up to 16, in the community, to provide an alternative to trick-or-treating. The event will feature a variety of games, including a fishing pond, frog toss, and other carnival-style attractions. Children up to age 16 are welcome to participate, with several local organizations providing additional activities. Little Caesars, one of the major sponsors, will set up a booth to hand out candy, while the Kiwanis Club will lead a pumpkin craft station, and the Marietta Community Foundation will distribute free books from the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.

Several local civic groups including the Marietta Civitans Club, The Pioneer Ladies Civitan Club, The Morning Rotary Club, The Afternoon Rotary Club, the Zonta Club of the Mid-Ohio Valley, the Kiwanis Club of Marietta and the Lions Club organized the event.

A few years ago the event moved indoors to avoid any inclement weather on the day of the event. The name of Halloween in the Park is to honor the tradition of the decades of Halloween parties that historically took place in Muskingum Park.

According to Connie Grimes who is organizing the event, Halloween in the Park originated in the 1980s following a demand to create safer alternatives to trick-or-treat, since then the event has become a tradition for the community.

“I just want the kids to come in here and have a good time,” said Grimes, “(This is) for the kids to have a place to enjoy Halloween … if the parents don’t want them to go trick or treating in the evening.”