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Santa Monica's Pacific Park Celebrates a Family-Friendy Halloween

Frank Gruber for City Council

 

 

 

 


Santa Monica Real Estate Company, Roque and Mark

Pico Business Improvement District
7th Annual Pico Festival
Sunday, October 28th

By Lookout Staff

October 30, 2012 -- For the first time in ten years, Santa Monica's Pacific Park will celebrate Halloween with a light display on its world-famous Ferris Wheel.

Now through Halloween, Pacific Park will be decorated in a festive way for the families to enjoy when they visit the theme park on the Santa Monica pier.

“The pier is really becoming a year-round destination for locals and tourist,” said Jeff Klocke, director of marketing and sales at Pacific Park.

As a result, this year, Pacific Park decided to decorate for the season.

“An assortment of scary sightings has also been reported including spiders, cobwebs and a high-flying witch,” Park officials said.

Photos courtesy of Pacific Park

The Park crew built a black witch's cauldron -- which emits smoke -- over the view port, where visitors can stop and look into the sea and sand beneath the Pier.

Perhaps the centerpiece of the Park's seasonal décor is the 160,000 LED computer-operated lights that have turned the Ferris wheel into a giant flashing pumpkin.

“We use the ferris wheel to celebrate almost every holiday,” said Klocke. “We were able to do a pretty cool lighting display and really celebrate the holiday.

"This is one of the first years we've done something for Halloween,” he said.

He added that Halloween is often a competitive time for amusement parks, which often strive to create a separate experience for the holiday. He cited Universal Studios' Halloween Horror Nights as an example.

“As opposed to creating a separate experience, like other theme parks, we just operate the park as normal and still get huge crowds on warm days,” he said.

But this year, they wanted to “enhance the experience.”

So far, the park's décor has gotten a “great response from locals and tourists alike,” he said.


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