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A night of ghosts, ghouls and heroes...
The evening chill filled the air as heroes and villains joined up with ghouls and vampires for an evening of good-spirited fun during a yearly celebration on Friday.
They descended upon Hacker Middle School during this year's Super Safe Halloween Carnival -- a community event hosted by the city parks and recreation department.
Costumed characters young and old were already making their way to the middle school shortly before the doors opened to the public at 6 p.m.
Among those waiting at the head of the line waiting were Michelle Weber, who brought her children, Kameron, Brandon and Sarah, to the festival. The carnival was a safe way for the family to enjoy Halloween, Weber said.
"I didn't want to go out on the streets, especially since my children are so young," she said.
At the same time, Weber felt the experience would be a lot of fun for her daughter, who came dressed as Cinderella.
Others like Heather Gifford and Makayla McDonald were among those making their first trek to the yearly gathering. McDonald made it clear that she wanted to get her fair share of Halloween treats and to get her face painted.
Meanwhile, youngsters like Montana Meksch wanted to enjoy an evening of games in his quest of winning candy and perhaps some toys as well.
"We did this last year, and we had a lot of fun," he said.
More than 400 people took part in this year's festivities, which was lower than attendance numbers in recent years, said parks and recreation representative Crystal Anderson. It's possible that the evening's warmer temperatures were luring people outside to hunt for their Halloween treats instead, she said.
The department started the festival 37 years ago as a way to promote fun and safety. It helped alleviate concerns with young children going door to door for Halloween treats at night with so many cars traveling on city streets at the same time, Anderson said.
In addition, the indoor event ensures people can enjoy the Halloween holiday without dealing with Idaho's often-unpredictable fall weather.
Unlike traditional Halloween candy gathering methods of going door to door, the carnival used an assortment of games to hand out the sweets. As the lines swelled across the middle school cafeteria, children took their turns in hopes of taking home their share of the hundreds of pounds of assorted sweets that was donated by local businesses and parents.
Fantasy creations that walked through the door during the evening included a host of characters based on children's fairy tales, classic television shows and current action movies.
Alyssa Callentine took a page from classic children's literature to create costumes for her family. Dressed up as the Cat in the Hat, she used a little creativity and some paint to turn her sons, Xander and Izik, into Thing One and Thing Two from the classic Dr. Seuss story.
The costumes were fairly easy to put together, Callentine admitted. She bought the boys pairs of red one-piece pajamas and glued some details on the outfits to make them complete.
What took a bit more time was turning her boys' hair the proper shade of blue, which she accomplished using a wash-out style of hair coloring.
Nearby, the Erin Ireland and her family were putting a few final touches on their costumes, which they based on the beloved characters from the Wizard of Oz. A few weeks back, her son, Chase, had watched the classic movie and immediately wanted to play the role of the Tin Man, she said.
During the evening, the youngster tried to remain in character. At his side was an oil can, which he pretended to use as a way to help keep his steel joints lubricated.
Most of the time, however, he seemed to enjoy swinging a tiny axe made from a wooden dowel and cardboard.
"Toto had to stay out in the car," Ireland added.
Meanwhile, Trinity Holtz and Alexis Overfield highlighted their love of Halloween sweets after they came dressed as a package of Nerds candy. It took about two weeks for the youngsters to put their costumes together, each one representing half of a complete candy wrapper.
"We wanted to do something together," Alexis said.
"...and be creative with out costumes," Trinity added.
While vampires tended to outnumber the other "undead" creatures attending the carnival, youngsters like Maiyah and Raven Marner came dressed for the occasion with one posing as a zombie bride and the other transformed into a skeleton bride.
"It was just a random idea," said their mother, Regina Marner, regarding the costume designs.
While some people preferred traditional costumes, others like Julie Rogers wanted something bordering on the macabre. With her head popping up through a makeshift table surrounded by meal fixings, it appeared that the youngster had become the main course for dinner that evening.
"My mom and I made it," said the nine-year-old, who joked that it was her mother that wanted to "have her for dinner."
While some children continued to fill their buckets with sugary treats, others gathered in the school's main gymnasium for a shot at winning an assortment of prizes during the yearly costume contest.
To make judging fair, parks and recreation included a total of 14 categories that allowed competitors to vie within their respective age groups with the winners walking away with a basket of treats and prizes. One of those categories allowed entire families to go toe-to-toe for a share of the winnings.
Competing for the yearly titles included members of the Hale family, who chose a nature-based theme for their costumes. The children came dressed as a praying mantis, housefly, spider, butterfly and a flower while their mother, Mary Ellen, was a pest exterminator.
Meanwhile, the Abrego family were posing as characters from the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Each year, they develop a specific theme for their costumes, which one year included characters from the TV show, the Adams Family.
"Everyone came up with ideas, and we voted on it," said Toni Abrego, who came dressed as the evil witch, Bellatrix Lestrange. It took nearly two months to make the costumes, Abrego added. They made everything by hand, including the bald caps worn by two of their children, who were portraying the vile villain Lord Voldemort and Dobby the house elf.