By Megan Alley
Sun staff
Amid recent reports locally and nationally of threats made by people posing as clowns, Scene75 in Miami Township banned all adults from wearing the costume during its second annual HalloScene indoor trick or treat event on Oct. 27.
“Due to the recent incidents in the news about clowns and how they’re making people feel uncomfortable, we’ve decided to ask that we do not have any adults wearing clown costumes or masks during the event,” Sean Cope, Scene75 vice president of marketing, said in an interview leading up to the event.
“We are not allowing anyone in that is an adult wearing a clown costume,” he added.
The aim of the free event, which was held from 6-9 p.m. at the entertainment center located 876 state Route 28, was to, “give back to the community; to provide a safe, fun and dry trick-or-treating experience for the kids so that they can get their candy and everyone can be safe and comfortable while trick-or-treating.”
The event was geared towards children between 2 and 13 years old.
“If someone is above the trick-or-treating age, then they shouldn’t really be wearing a clown costume for the event,” Cope said.
The policy warned that those who broke the rule would be turned away and asked to change into a different costume “for the enjoyment and safety of all the guests involved,” he added.
While the entertainment center didn’t maintain specific stances on other symbols of terror, Cope noted that prop weapons were not allowed and all costumes were to be “appropriate.”
The ban came as a result of internal discussions as well as customer feedback.
“We don’t think we’re playing into the hysteria of the clown instances, but we recognize after hearing from people that it is a concern of theirs,” Cope said. “In order to allow all of our guests to feel like they’re having a safe and fun trick-or-treating event, we decided it’s best not to allow that costume due to implications it’s had in the news recently.”
On Sept. 30, a 14-year-old Milford High School student was arrested after making a threat on social media on a “killer clown” page that he created. The student later admitted that he had created the page and made the threat as “a joke,” according to Miami Township Assistant Police Chief Mike Mills.
After the event, Alex Zorniger, Scene75 vice president of operations, reported no incidences of adults in clown costumes.
“There were zero issues with that fortunately; we were really happy that while there were a lot of funny and interesting comments on the Facebook page, no one really tried to make an issue with the event,” he said. “It was great.”
In general, the event was “crazy successful.”
Zorniger estimated a turnout of almost 4,000 people this year, with is a considerable growth over the 1,500 who attended last year.
“We were really happy with the turnout,” he said, adding that the entertainment center handed out between 4,000 and 5,000 pounds of candy.
“The whole building feels a little lighter,” he quipped.