The City of Portage spreads Halloween festivity and provides free entertainment for families with seventh annual Light Up the Gourds Event

The City of Portage was covered in Halloween spirit on Saturday, October 10, for the seventh annual Light Up the Gourds event. Families flooded Imagination Glen Park, experiencing all sorts of festive fun put together by the city and its volunteers. 

The event held several spooky attractions for the evening. A family friendly Halloween trail was set up around the park, furnished with all sorts of statues, decorations, and community carved Jack-o-lanterns. A trunk or treat was set up towards the park’s entrance, with several Region residents decking out their cars the way one would decorate their house for Halloween- there were lights and skeletons, along with other different themes. Multiple event sponsors, including local businesses and organizations, set up tents and minigames, while food trucks parked beside them, ready to serve up hungry families who had finished the event’s activities.

Light up the Gourds has quickly become one of Portage’s signature events. It brings the entire city together for all things halloween, from Jack-o’-lantern displays to trick or treating. This had been the city’s goal from the event’s inception, to make a festivity so important to the community, and Portage takes incredible pride in it.

“Portage doesn’t really have an event for the city,” said Andrea Riley, a member of the Portage Event Partnership. “Chesterton has the Scarecrow Festival and Plymouth has the Blueberry Festival, so we were hoping to make this a really big thing in Portage, where kids could come down and have clean, safe, family fun.”

Portage brings the entire Northwest Indiana community together for their Light Up the Gourds event. Numerous small businesses and food trucks  from all across form new relationships with the community they serve, as well as the Portage Event Partnership itself.

Norma Laboy, the public relations specialist for the City of Portage, values the connections she has with these businesses highly.

“We get to meet all different kinds of vendors. There are a couple here that have never been out in Portage before, so I welcome them. I reach out to our sponsors, our business partners, and invite them so they can do community outreach, too. So it’s a win-win. It builds our partnerships, but it also helps the business reach out to the community. We reach out city-wide and beyond,” Laboy said.

While Light Up the Gourds is geared towards families, the City of Portage doesn’t neglect its other demographics. Senior citizens are given their own special hour during the event, and teenagers attended, too, dressed up in costume and spreading Halloween merriment. 

“I think it’s great to get people from all over the city to enjoy the parks, enjoy the outdoors, enjoy each other, enjoy the schools and what the schools are doing. There are elementary schools that have participated, and the students’ grandmas and grandpas come out. It spans every age group. The young people can showcase their art by carving pumpkins and bringing their grandmas and grandpas down to just enjoy the art,” Riley said.

The City of Portage’s Light Up the Gourds event is an incredible boon for Northwest Indiana. It provides free entertainment for families in tough economic times, and is tremendously popular among residents of all ages and backgrounds. The event brought everyone attending into the Halloween spirit, with many of them donning costumes. Light Up the Gourds is a part of what makes Halloween in the Region so special, and the city does not take it for granted.

For more information on the City of Portage, visit portagein.gov