Thousands of people visited Treat Accessibly's Halloween village in Newton on Saturday.
Over 30 homeowners registered to hand out candy and 1,500 people registered to treat, in Newton near 69A Avenue and Bristol Place.
Since its first event in Toronto in 2021, the organization has held similar events across the country.
Rich Padulo, the founder of Treat Accessibly, said that this year, over 20,000 people attended one of the nine Treat Accessibly Halloween Villages nationwide.
Padulo came up with the idea in 2017 when he and his daughter were putting pumpkins on their steps and saw a child in a wheelchair across the street. They realized he would not be able to trick-or-treat at their home because of the stairs. This is where it all began.
This was the third year that Surrey had a Treat Accessibly Halloween Village. Padulo said they plan to return yearly until the world is more accessible.
Homeowner Lorraine Verhaegag has participated in the event for the past two years. "It's a nice thing for the neighbourhood. The kids love it and we like it too," Verhaegag said. "We love the costumes (and) love meeting people."
Padulo added, "All of our celebrations are in advance of Halloween because we want to ensure that every home who trick or treats knows they can do so accessibly on the 31st of October."
"For (children with disabilities), Halloween night is full of barriers," Padulo said. "What we can do as a country, as a community, as a neighbour, is create accessible trick or treating and work as a team with a shared message with the same voice on Halloween night to show them that we want to support them and create a more inclusive society by giving the kids some fun and the parents some relief on Halloween night."
"To treat accessibly is simply treating from your driveway, your garage and we offer free lawn signs for everyone to identify their home as a treat accessibly home, and they're available across the country at Pet Valu stores or REMAX locations," Padulo said.
To learn more about Treat Accessibly, visit treataccessibly.com.
