Castro Fliered To Advertise Absence Of Party

San Francisco city officials handed out fliers Friday night to remind people that there is no official Halloween party in the Castro.

The city is pushing its Home for Halloween program where people host their own parties. Nevertheless, police are still preparing for thousands of revelers on Sunday.

In 2006, nine people were wounded in a shooting at the Castro Halloween street party.

Some residents said there should be a way it to return.

"I think there's ways the city could do it," San Francisco resident Liz Highleyman said. "It happens in New York, it happens in cities all over the world and I would really like to see more fun happen in the Castro and throughout the city."

San Francisco Supervisor Bevan Dufty said there the size of the party is an issue.

"One of the problems we had was you can't fit a half million people from the Bay Area into the Castro," Dufty said, "It's just not a safe situation, and so that's really gone away."

Across the bay, Oakland's Montclair neighborhood hosted their traditional Halloween parade Friday night. The parade has been going on for more than forty years.

Howard Neal of the Montclair Lions Club said more people showed up as the night went on.

"Initially, a couple people said it looked a little light and we thought because of the weather it might be," Neal said. "I would say we got several hundred who've passed by."

For three generations of the Spander family has attended the parade.

"It's a great community event, everybody comes, as you can see the parents and grandparents all dress up, and it's fun," Montclair resident Liz Spander said.