Three free Halloween events will take place in and around Brentwood, Shenfield and Ingatestone High Streets this half term, courtesy of Brentwood Connected, the Business Improvement District (BID).
On Saturday 26 October from 3-6pm, a Festival of Frights will take place in Brentwood, with several exciting locations where visitors can get involved in fun Halloween activities and collect tasty treats. A trail taking place from Ongar Road, through the High Street and down to Kings Road, will have spooky activities stationed outside businesses including Beresfords, Cafe 25a, Rossi, Superdrug, and The Peasants’ Revolt, for families to enjoy. There will also be entertainment with two Halloween Mini Discos at The Baytree Shopping Centre at 3pm and 4pm, performances from local students of Lorraine’s School of Dancing and Razzamataz Theatre Schools, and ending with a Grand Finale fire performance in Crown Street. Brentwood Connected has engaged local entertainment business Sophisticated Entertainment to organise the activities for its Festival of Frights.
Chicken and Frog Bookshop and Ridgewell and Boreham will also be hosting a series of spooky activities in Crown Street from 3-6pm including a ‘Spooky Room’, candy floss, face painting and Halloween games. Natasha Radford, owner of Chicken and Frog Bookshop, says, “We are always up for a celebration at Chicken and Frog Bookshop, especially when it involves dressing up, and Halloween is an event the whole team looks forward to. This year is going to be even more special, with Brentwood Connected activities across the High Street area, spooky fun in Crown Street, and then the Grand Finale fire performance here at 5.30pm. The community always supports our events and we can not wait to see all the outfits on show!”
On Thursday 31 October from 3-6pm, it’s the Shenfield Spooktacular in Hutton Road with an interactive trail experience for the whole family to enjoy. There will be Halloween characters to meet and engage with, a performance from Razzamataz, and goodies to collect from trail locations including Green Power Home Services, Liquorice Wine & Deli, Shenfield Wine Company, Urban Edge, Vault and Woody’s.
The following day, on Friday 1 November from 10am to 5pm, there will be a Trick or Treat Trail in Ingatestone High Street with Halloween characters and 12 places to visit, including Beresfords, Budgens, Co-Op, Ingatestone Community Centre, Kennadys, Patrick Green, Ravens Bakery, The Ginger Tree, The Lounge Wine Bar and The Star Inn, to solve a spooky puzzle and collect Halloween goodies. Families will also be able to enjoy free face painting on the day.
Costumes and fancy dress are encouraged at all Brentwood Connected Halloween events, along with something to collect all the treats on offer.
Brentwood Connected is a unique Business Improvement District (BID) funded by town centre businesses. Previous seasonal events include Christmas, Easter and Halloween trails with local businesses as locations. Harriet and Mason Nathaniel, owners of The Peasants’ Revolt, a micropub in Brentwood who will be one of the Festival of Frights locations, said, “We’re really excited to be hosting one of the activities here at The Peasants’ Revolt and we’ll be giving visitors a warm welcome to Kings Road. With a young family ourselves, we know that free events like this are a great way to engage families over the school holidays and to showcase the businesses taking part. Hopefully some of our visitors on 26 October will come back another time for a drink, or even a game of shuffleboard, once they see what we’re all about.”