The Babylon Village Chamber of Commerce will host its annual Creepy Crawl on Sunday, Oct. 26, with trick or treating at local businesses culminating in a dance party.
The event will be held rain or shine, 12-3 p.m., and ends in a monster mash at Babylon Public Library, 24 S. Carll Ave., with Legendary Entertainment as DJ serving up a family-friendly mix of tunes.
Chamber President Tom Vitale has high hopes for the success of this event as it enters its second year.
“Last year, the Chamber created this Creepy Crawl event and that seemed to work out very nicely. We had a ton of participants last year, about 600 kids,” said Vitale, who served as 2024 chairman, working alongside Christina Sciuto, the owner of La La Land and this year’s event chair.
Vitale, who doubles as the Babylon Library director, has announced a new twist—one that promotes literacy. “Last year the kids had to identify a spooky object in each business before they got their treat. This year we’re using a book,” he said.
In connection with the Halloween theme, a book entitled ZomBees by New York-based actor Justin Colón has been selected for kids to read page by page during each stop of their trick-or-treat journey. Colón, who describes himself as a kid at heart, is known for quirky titles like The Quacken and Impossible Possum for Mayor and the forthcoming Vampurr. ZomBees, published by Simon & Schuster, imagines a swarm of zombie bees descending upon a town on Halloween night.
Even the littlest kids can get into the act, he said, as older siblings or parents can read the pages to them at each destination, entitling them to a treat.
“We thought it would be good for promoting literacy, but the kids still get to have fun with it,” said Vitale. He credits Colleen Kinneary, the owner of The Neverending Story bookstore in Babylon and a Chamber board member, with the idea of incorporating reading as done with the spring egg hunt, while the previous Chamber president, Nancy Iglesias-Gillen, envisioned the initial Creepy Crawl.
The ZomBees twist had enough support to change the course of this Halloween happening. As Vitale explained, “The author is local and was excited to use his book for the event. My librarians and I reviewed it, and we thought it was cute."
Every child receives a map so that their reading excursion continues in story order. “Each business will offer different types of treats, edible as well as non-edible so that everyone can participate,” he said, noting the desire to make the event open to those with food allergies as well.
Because the literacy component is somewhat new, he said, The Neverending Story will host a reading of the book at different times throughout the Creepy Crawl.
A monster mash at the library concludes the event and will feature a green screen for spooky and face painting as well as dancing in the community room. As part of the Creepy Crawl, the library will also be handing out treats, he said.
All activity is free to participants due to the sponsorship of the East Neck Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in West Babylon. Registration begins at noon at La La Land, 158 E. Main St., and the first 300 to sign up will get a Creepy Crawl tote bag from the Chamber.
“We’re hoping to have a beautiful day and for a lot of people to come out again,” said Vitale. “We’re happy to have participants from wherever they happen to come from (not just Babylon). It should be a really great day.”
Children are encouraged to wear Halloween costumes and stay safe as they travel through the business district. Vitale reminds parents that the streets will not be closed for this event and are therefore subject to traffic.
For the event flyer see the Babylon Village Chamber of Commerce website.