CALGARY -- Soon after Alberta’s chief medical officer Dr. Deena Hinshaw announced that Halloween wasn’t going to be cancelled, Ryan Schoel’s phone lit up with text messages from his friends.

Schoel is the owner of The Costume Shoppe in southeast Calgary and says it’s great news the holiday will go ahead on schedule.

"Everybody wants to have a smile," he said. “Everybody wants to have fun so we’re here to help with that as long as everybody stays safe and protects their families things should be good, kids will smile, adults will smile, and maybe we’re all smiling.”

Heritage Park Historical Village hosts an annual Halloween event for families call Ghouls Night Out. This year’s event is masquerade of sorts that is a play on mandated mask wearing according to Barb Munro, the parks communications specialist.

“We are confident that we can run our annual Halloween event,” said Munro. “With some tweaks to make it safe for all families and everybody to come and enjoy a safe and fun Halloween event here at the park.”

The event will look a little different this year because the park will be limiting the crowd by selling timed ticket entries on its website.

“We’re also changing some of our programming so instead of being really hands on like we used to be it’s going to be more of a visual experience this year,” she added. “We’ll have the streets decorated, lots of lighting and lots of spooky fun entertainment all throughout the historical village.”

Mark Jean, who has three children who all love Halloween, has come up with a kit for homeowners to help keep everyone safe because he knows how chaotic the night can get.

“A little bit more control with some spacing dots, (they) might provide cues to be more careful and if that’s all it takes to make it safer then you know what, I think it’s something we can all do help protect each other.”

Along with arrows and spacing dots to keep visitors separated, Jean is also including a shrink wrap plastic sheet that can be put on the upper half of the doorjamb creating a barrier between people handing out candy and the youngsters.

Learn more about the kits online.