A DETERMINED mum is hoping to save Hallowe’en in her community by hosting a spooktacular walk.

Daytona Mills 28, from Baillieston, has revealed her pumpkin trail plans for the traditional October 31 celebration.

The trail will involve children walking around their local areas to see how many pumpkins they can spot. Families are being encouraged to get into the spirit by decorating their windows and gardens with hallowe’en decorations and of course, pumpkins.

The walk will take place on Main Street at selected times throughout the week so that social distancing can be maintained.

A mystery “Ballieston Community Spirit” has been designed and will be hiding in each display.

Ten local businesses in Baillieston are involved with some handing out sweets to children taking part. One business is holding a colouring competition for children to design their own “Community Spirit”.

Glasgow Times:

Daytona, who is married to Craig, said “Hallowe’en is one of my favourite holidays and I wanted to share the excitement with my four year daughter, Una. So when I saw this, I knew I had to give it a try locally. 2020 has taken some of the magic away this year that we all loved as children but, creating a Halloween walk and giving the children something to look forward to seemed like the right thing to do.”

She added “We’re encouraging the local community to decorate their windows or gardens with even simply a pumpkin, over the week of Hallowe’en to encourage social distance. Children can then go on a walk one day that week and see how many pumpkins they can find.”

With a new ban on households meeting indoors in Scotland, parents may be seeking alternatives to traditional trick-or-treating and parties.

The walk is part of nationwide “The Big Neighbourhood Pumpkin Trail” run by organisation ARTventurers, who run arts and crafts classes for children. They are encouraging families to use templates where they can draw and design their own pumpkins. Families are being encouraged to continue the tradition of carving pumpkins to place in their gardens too. Not only that, ARTventurers will also be sharing spooky arts and crafts activities for families throughout October.

You can find more Hallowe’en arts and crafts activities here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/695682491244696.

Daytona is encouraging families across Ballieston to get involved in the Hallowe’en pumpkin trail, saying “If we can get enough people to join in, we are hoping to create a list or map of places to go to. It’s the right time for the Community Spirit.”

If you would like to find out more details about the planned walks in Baillieston, you can check out the Facebook event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1435156790207402.