BY LOREEN BERLIN: Garden Grove celebrated Halloween early over the weekend.
And that was just fine with hundreds of children.
Adults, too, who got to play like children for a day.
The 16th annual Jack O'Lantern Jamboree at Atlantis Play Center sold out again this year, with nearly 900 participants in attendance.
The first 300 children who signed up for the event received free pumpkins to take home at the end of the day.
BY LOREEN BERLIN: Garden Grove celebrated Halloween early over the weekend.
And that was just fine with hundreds of children.
Adults, too, who got to play like children for a day.
The 16th annual Jack O'Lantern Jamboree at Atlantis Play Center sold out again this year, with nearly 900 participants in attendance.
The first 300 children who signed up for the event received free pumpkins to take home at the end of the day.
However, before that took place, there was an amazing magic show performed by "MagicIAN,” who somehow made a huge light-colored snake appear out of nowhere that morphed into finely-cut streamers of light-yellow paper. The snake was never seen again.
Although the magician tossed the streamers to within reach of the children seated on the grass around the magic stage, nary a one of them put forth their hand to touch the snake-turned-streamers.
And what would a Halloween party be without a costume contest? Categories included best over-all, cutest and scariest.
Two craft-tables were in place for youngsters to make a clever pumpkin hat out of a simple paper bowl and a spider lollipop with some added black pipe-cleaner legs. Then there were inflated bounce houses, carnival games and a train ride, along with pizza and drinks.
New this year were air-brushed tattoos, and an Instagram giveaway, all culminating in a fun day for children with their families.
Garden Grove Councilman John O'Neill attended. He remembered being a 3-year-old child attending Atlantis and sliding down the large dragon slide in the 1960s.
