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Niagara Falls
Wednesday, March 27, 2024
Niagara Falls city offering healthy alternative to candy this Halloween

Looking for something safe to hand out for Halloween? Something that’s not filled with sugar?

Well, you're in luck because the city of Niagara Falls is doing something new this year by offering skate passes as a Halloween giveaway as a healthy alternative.

Mayor Jim Diodati said offering recreational passes for people to purchase was an easy choice, in a city release Wednesday.

He said it’s a great way to treat kids and get them on the ice and active.

“As soon as we heard the idea, we knew it was a good one,” said Diodati during Tuesday’s council meeting when council decided to go with the idea.

The idea was inspired by other communities in Canada and around Ontario who have adopted the practice of offering booklets of passes for recreational activities, including things like public skating and swimming.

This year, Niagara Falls is offering a $10 booklet packed with 40 coupons for admission at any public skating hours at the Gale Centre or the Chippawa Willoughby Memorial Arena.

The coupon book goes on sale Thursday and will be available until Halloween day from the city of Niagara Falls.

You can purchase your passes at one of the following city locations:

MacBain Community Centre (evening and weekend hours available)

Gale Centre Arena (evening and weekend hours available)

City Hall (Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.)

Mayor Diodati said at council that this will “provide an opportunity to engage the community not only to get active, but to get active at our facilities.”

Statistics posted by Healthy Kids Niagara say children in the region have higher rates of asthma and heart disease compared to the provincial average.

Statistics Canada shows that only 14% of kids aged five to 11 meet Canadian physical activity guidelines.

Council made a unanimous decision to implement the Halloween program and discussed expanding it next year to include more city facilities and other activities.

The city release notes that only 1,000 booklets will be available this year and said if tickets are still available they will remain on sale after Halloween.

Coupons will be valid until March 31, 2018.

For customer service hours of operation at participating facilities visit, niagarafalls.ca.

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