These Edmonton-area malls won't have trick-or-treating this year

Kids trick-or-treating with non-medical face masks. (Shutterstock)

EDMONTON — Several shopping centres in the Edmonton area will not be offering indoor trick-or-treating this year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The seven centres, all part of the Northern Alberta Shopping Centre Association, confirmed the decision on Wednesday.

“When we talked about how we can best support our communities at Halloween this year, safety was the number one concern,” vice president Tammy Abbott said in a written release. “this year, we’re asking everyone to follow the guidelines set out by Alberta Health that give us a great framework on how to have a safe Halloween outdoors.”

These are the shopping centres that will not allow retailers to hand out candy this Halloween:

According to NASCA, the locations will still be showing their Halloween spirit with other events.

Alberta’s chief medical officer of health confirmed on Oct. 1 that Halloween would go ahead as scheduled, but with some added safety precautions.

"In many ways, Halloween is actually safer to celebrate than other holidays," Dr. Deena Hinshaw said. "Unlike Thanksgiving for example, where families traditionally gather inside to have dinner together, most of Halloween's activities take place outdoors."

Hinshaw said families should not participate in any activities if they are feeling ill and should take precautions such as wearing non-medical masks under costumes, maintaining physical distance, disinfecting candy packages and not touching doorbells and railings.