MADHOUSE AT MALL; KIDS WERE BUSY `GOBLIN' TREATS FROM BIG EVENT

The race for candy began as soon as parents and their trick-or-treaters hit the West Park Mall doors on Halloween night.

All they had to do was sign up, take a number and join the stream of children flowing from shop to shop. At almost every store, there were handfuls of candy for all the Barneys, Pocahontases, witches and grim reapers.

Mall manager Jim Govro said the Halloween tradition began in 1990, when merchants decided it was time to help the shoppers who made the mall so successful.

"We know we're not going to do any sales with all this going on, but this is giving back to the community," he said. "I remember trick-or-treating as a kid. It was dark, cold and sometimes rainy. This is much more pleasant."

No other event attracts more people to the mall on a single day, said Suzanne Yoder, marketing manager. The phone rings off the hook every Halloween, with parents wanting to know what time trick-or-treating begins and what events are scheduled.

About 3,500 kids attended the event in 1995. Govro estimated the number would be even higher this year, although no official count was made available Thursday night.

Some parents drove long ways so their children could be a part of the excitement. Mary Ash, along with two Ninjas, a Barbie doll and a walking pumpkin, traveled to the mall from Scopus in Bollinger County.

"I've been coming here with the kids since the beginning," Ash said. "It's just better with the weather, and it's safer."

Her children's bags were so full of candy that the smallest boy didn't have enough strength to carry his own.

Darrell Schoen, a dad from a Mounds, Ill., brought his 4-year-old daughter to the mall for Halloween. Little Ashley Schoen was dressed as Esmarelda, the female lead in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame."

"You don't have to worry about candy being tampered with here," he said. "And Ashley loves it. It's her second year over here."

The event was fun for store workers, too. With few customers inside, clerks were free to pass out treats to the thousands of kids who passed their doorways.

Christy Bruckner sat outside Pier One Imports handing out fortune cookies.

"There were some kids who were like, `Fortune cookies. Hmmmm,'" she said. "But all the parents liked them. Nobody else has fortune cookies."

Amy Bucher at Carlton Cards said this is her second year passing out candy at the mall, and she likes it better than working inside.

"It's fun to see all the cute costumes," she said. "There have been a lot of Power Rangers and baby pumpkins, but I also saw a humongous witch on stilts."