Halloween's traditional "creatures of the night" ruled downtown Lawrence for a couple of hours Sunday evening, along with a few Harry Potters, Power Rangers and a mixture of other assorted characters.
But for those who ventured out after dark, Massachusetts Street was anything but their worst nightmare.
Throngs of costumed children celebrated Halloween by loading up on treats as they passed by one storefront after another during this year's annual Downtown Lawrence Trick-or-Treat event sponsored by Downtown Lawrence Inc.
On a typical Sunday night few retail stores are open, but because Halloween fell on Sunday, many stores agreed to reopen long enough to hand out treats.
And the sidewalks were packed with people, in some places from storefront to curb.
"I didn't realize there were this many kids in Lawrence," said Patrick Crough, an employee of Teller's, 746 Mass., as he stood outside the restaurant and bar and handed out candy to children passing by assembly-line style. "I don't know where they all came from."
Many of those children were accompanied by their parents, who also donned costumes. The Comparato family was dressed up like characters from The Wizard of Oz. Joe Comparato took on the look of the Scarecrow while his wife, Paige, wore the black hat and dress of the Wicked Witch of the West. Their daughter, Mia, 5, was Dorothy and son, Rocco, 3, looked like the lion after it shed its cowardice.
"It's great that they do this for the kids, and we like to dress up, too," Joe Comparato said. "You get to see a lot of people down here."
The downtown Halloween event also is becoming an attraction for out-of-towners.
Trick-or-Treaters gather in front of the Children's Orchard, 742 Mass., in search of candy. Downtown merchants opened their doors Sunday to pass out Halloween candy.
Terry Cichy, of Topeka, and her daughter, Angela Cruz, and granddaughter Lindsey Cruz, of Kansas City, Mo., sat on a bench and relaxed before finishing their walk around town. Lindsey, who was dressed up like Princess Fiona from the movie "Shrek," already had started eating the candy she had collected in her orange plastic jack-o-lantern.
"It's a lot of fun and it's safe," said Cichy, who works in Lawrence.
Daniel Dorado, a native of Bolivia, was enjoying Halloween as much as his 6-year-old son, Joaquin, and his wife, Susana, a student at Kansas University.
"This is new territory for me," Daniel Dorado said. "We don't have this in Bolivia, so we're doing this for the first time. We're going to have a Halloween Party."
Joaquin Dorado was dressed up like Harry Potter, while his dad wore a red and black robe.
Jared Lange, 6, of Lawrence, dressed as the Man in the Yellow Hat from the Curious George books, adds to his Halloween haul of candy. Hundreds of children and their parents flocked Sunday to Lawrence's downtown, where merchants passed out candy to trick-or-treaters.
"I don't know who I am," Daniel Dorado said of his costume.
Elsewhere in Lawrence, a random drive through some residential neighborhoods found few trick-or-treaters. Most sidewalks and streets were as quiet as, well, a cemetery.
But a juvenile girl was injured when she was struck by a vehicle on Inverness Drive north of Merion Court, Lawrence Police said. The girl was taken by ambulance to Lawrence Memorial Hospital but there was no word on her condition. A police supervisor said the injuries were not life-threatening but no other details were available Sunday night.
A light rain also fell much of the night, causing slick streets and a series of minor noninjury accidents, police said.
Ardys Ramberg, left, hands a piece of candy to Michael DeJesus, 3 of Mission, in front of Goldmakers, 723 Mass. Trick-or-treaters flocked Sunday night to downtown Lawrence to join the annual Halloween event.
"It's been nothing significant," Sgt. Craig Shanks said.
Later Sunday night police were searching in the area of the Douglas County 4-H Fairgrounds for one or two suspects in a residential burglary investigation.
A report of a pile of hay on fire sent Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical to the 2100 block of Haskell Avenue. When they arrived firefighters found a "couple of handfulls of straw" smoldering, said Division Chief Pat Carlin.
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