A bewildered driver waited in line Saturday, inching through traffic for more than 30 minutes when she pulled into Santee’s Town Center Community Park East.
“Where do I drop off my ballot?” the older woman asked.
She stood out because she wasn’t wearing a Halloween costume. Nor did she have children in her car. The line was for bags of candy being handed to costumed residents who drove to the park on the north side of town.
About 22 miles away, at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center, voters passed a polling center sign with a scary skeleton hanging above it. Halloween candy was given out on the other side of the center.
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With Election Day just around the corner and Halloween landing on a Saturday days before, the two events got a little tangled up this year.
In Santee, cars were lined up on Mast Boulevard in both directions as people h(a)unted for candy – the free kind.
One driver was asked how long she’d been waiting.
“An hour,” the woman said with three small children in the backseat.
“I’m very thankful that people came out,” said Bill Maertz, director of community services for Santee. “We’ve seen thousands of kids today, smiles on their faces, want to show their costumes off.”
City staff prepared about 2,500 small bags of candy for children 2 to 12. Music, spooky decorations and 400-pound pumpkins greeted participants.
To ease traffic, the city devised a system dependent on the first letter of the last name — with A-L starting at 11 a.m., M-R for noon to 1 p.m. and S-Z for 1-2 p.m.
But no one checked names. And the line of cars down Park Center Drive was long. Families didn’t freak out — they moved down the road without the toot of one horn.
Santee’s special events staff was trying to create some degree of Halloween normalcy.
“I’m very stoked, very excited about the whole thing,” Maertz said. “Hopefully next year, they will do it in their neighborhood normally, but we’re adapting and trying to provide events during this difficult time.”
Maeritz recalled a promise to stay until 2.
“Now we’re just going to stay until (all the candy is) done,” he said. “We’re not going to turn anyone away.”
But people seemed to have noted the 2 p.m. closing, and the line of cars ended.
“I’ll never complain if we have too many people because it means we are doing something that people want and are excited about,” said the community service director.
Bonita Ranch and Waste Management sponsored the event.
In Ocean Beach, the community center on Santa Monica Avenue was one of the Grab and Go Halloween events sponsored by the city of San Diego.
Neighborhood children walked up to booths distributing candy. Others drove up and were handed treats for the ghouls and goblins in the backseat.
