Youngsters will once again “Pillage the Village” at this year’s installment in    La Jolla’s downtown from 3 to 6 p.m. on Halloween, Friday, Oct. 31.
Co-sponsored by La Jolla Village Merchants Association (LJVMA), the La Jolla Real Estate Brokers Association (REBA) and the La Jolla chapter of Kiwanis, Pillage the Village has quickly become a seasonal community tradition in the Jewel.
“We’re getting more reach into the community and making it clear to everybody what we can do,” LJVMA’s Economic Development Division spokesperson Leon Chow said about the event’s growing significance. “This is a freebie; it’s such a natural.” Chow noted that local school kids will be going right from costume parades at their schools to trick-or-treating in the Village.
LJVMA board member Claudette Berwin said there’s been talk of combining Pillage the Village with another event to make it even bigger in the future.
“We were approached by the La Jolla Rec Center to do an event on Saturday next year,” Berwin said. “Maybe we can do these two things together.”
Berwin said REBA is on board again this year to do a kids costume contest. She added that Geppetto’s toy store, at 7850 Girard Ave., was “over-the-top generous” with gift cards it’s providing for the costume contest.
“It’s become a great event,” Berwin said.
Chow said event posters in two different sizes are being produced and will appear in participating merchants windows soon promoting Pillage the Village. “Merchants will get black and orange balloons so you know who’s participating,” Berwin said.
Bookstore owner Nancy Warwick at LJVMA’s October meeting suggested that the event could be bolstered by people dressing up their dogs in costumes and having them take part in the fun.
For more information, visit lajollabythesea.com/calendar and scroll down.