A long-beloved Halloween tradition in Foster City has unfortunately been canceled for 2012.
The Foster City Rotary Club announced Tuesday that the annual "Safe Streets" event, which has been taking place locally for roughly 40 years, will not be taking place this year.
Rotary Club President Noemi Avram said the reason behind the cancellation is a tragic one - the event has just become too successful, to the point that it is putting a strain on the surrounding neighborhood.
"While Halloween Safe Streets has been a fun family event over the years, in many ways, it has been the victim of its own success," Avram told Patch on Tuesday. "It has grown far beyond the Foster City community event it started out to be."
Avram said that, in recent years, the event has become so popular, it has started attracting families from as far as the South and East bay areas, causing logistical and safety problems for surrounding homes and for the event organizers.
"Given the limited number of neighborhoods capable of logistically and safely accommodating it, the Rotary Club has heard reasonable concerns from residents in those neighborhoods that are called upon to host the event year after year," she explained. "It has also become increasingly challenging to staff and manage the event from a public safety perspective."
In 2011, it is estimated around 3,000 to 5,000 children attended the Safe Streets Halloween event, which was held in Farragut Park area in the neighborhood surrounded by Halsey, Farragut and Beach Park boulevards.
Many families say the attraction of the Safe Streets event was celebrating with your neighbors and knowing that the treats were safe, having been supplied directly from candy manufacturers through the generous monetary donations of the local Rotarians, community individuals and businesses.
Avram told Patch that the Rotary will evaluate the decision whether or not to hold the event on a year-by-year basis, starting again next year. If conditions are favorable, the Club will revisit holding the event again sometime in the future.
"In the meantime, the Rotary Club of Foster City hopes families will enjoy the safe and fun spirit of traditional trick-or-treating door-to-door in their own neighborhoods.”
PATCH WANTS TO KNOW - How do you feel about Safe Streets being canceled? Do you live in a home near where the event is usually held? If so, did the Safe Streets event cause your family concern? Tell us in the comments below.
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