PORT TOWNSEND — The Port Townsend Main Street Program has canceled two fall events that normally draw crowds downtown: Girls’ Night Out on Oct. 7 and trick-or-treating on Halloween.
The decision was made last week due to the uncertainty about COVID and a recent surge in case numbers, Main Street Executive Director Mari Mullen said Friday.
Girls’ Night Out, a shopping event involving numerous downtown businesses, is an awareness-raiser for women’s health and is held during October’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Mullen noted. It raises funds for women in need through the Jefferson Healthcare Foundation, with Jefferson Healthcare a longtime sponsor.
“This year, they have serious concerns about events that could potentially impact community safety,” Mullen said in a news release, and since Girls’ Night Out brings hundreds of women downtown to indoor activities in smaller spaces, Jefferson Healthcare chose not to sponsor it.
The Main Street Promotion Committee opted to cancel after meeting last Wednesday to discuss the event and Jefferson Healthcare’s concerns, Mullen said.
“The COVID numbers have been increasing in our community. We want to support community safety,” she said.
“We hope to be able to offer the event in October 2022, when the pandemic is behind us.”
The Oct. 31 Downtown Trick or Treat tradition, which Mullen said has attracted more than 2,000 children, was also canceled due to widespread COVID concerns.
Main Street surveyed merchants about the event, and the responses didn’t support going ahead with it, Mullen said.
Into the fall, the Port Townsend Main Street Program will continue its Hidden History tours, she said.
The free walking tours start at 1 p.m. on the first and third Saturdays of the month — Oct. 2 and Oct. 16 — at the Haller Fountain at Taylor and Washington streets. Participants are asked to wear masks.
For information about the Hidden History interpretive signs that inspired the tours, see PThistory.com.
To sign up to join a tour, go to https://bit.ly/3nIEDWt. Drop-ins are welcome on tour days if space is available.
________
Jefferson County senior reporter Diane Urbani de la Paz can be reached at 360-417-3509 or durbanidelapaz@peninsuladailynews.com.
