Town of Chapel Hill issued the following announcement on Oct. 26.
The Town of Chapel Hill encourages everyone to find safe ways to celebrate Halloween and keep Franklin Street – and the surrounding area – open to vehicle traffic. Our emergency management team, with years of experience handling Halloween, is prepared to respond to any need.
The Town’s goal in recent years has been to make Oct. 31st even safer for people, and this remains our focus while COVID-19 is a factor. We, along with our partners at UNC-Chapel Hill, are having conversations – rooted in years of experience – to ensure everyone is keeping safety top of mind.
Instead of gathering in large crowds—regardless of vaccination status—there are safer ways you can celebrate Halloween.
We encourage our community to avoid celebrating in large crowds, even outside, and to find other ways to enjoy Halloween. The Orange County Health Department has developed a guide of safer alternatives for this year at orangecountync.gov/Halloween.
What to expect downtown Sunday, Oct. 31st
Should crowd sizes become large enough that keeping Franklin Street, Columbia Street, or any other downtown roads open to motor-vehicle traffic becomes unsafe, the roads will be closed. That closure will not begin before 8 p.m., and it will conclude no later than 9:30 p.m.
Prohibited items
You will notice officers from the Chapel Hill, UNC-Chapel Hill, and Carrboro police departments and Orange County Sheriff Deputies downtown the evening of Sunday, Oct. 31st.
Law enforcement officers will be looking for prohibited items, such as open containers of alcohol, weapons, or items that look like or could be used as weapons. If you bring any of these items, you will be asked to dispose of them or remove them from the downtown area.
“Our goal this year is to encourage our community to find safe ways to celebrate Halloween that don’t include gathering in our downtown,“ said Chapel Hill Police Chief and Executive Director for Community Safety Chris Blue.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up