Spiderman, dinosaurs, doctors and Toy Story characters were at Safetyville USA’s 19th annual Halloween Haunt on Saturday.

More than 1,000 adults and kids dressed in Halloween costumes, played games, ate cotton candy, apples and popcorn to celebrate the Halloween. Sac State Serves, a community service program at Sacramento State, sent 67 students and staff to volunteer as cartoon characters and parking attendants, among others.

“I don’t even have costumes that good,” said junior cultural anthropology major Angelina Samayoa, a volunteer at the event.

She said two of her favorites were a girl dressed as a princess and a boy dressed as a green dragon.

Katie Lohrengel, a Sac State Serves student assistant, said the event is safer than trick-or-treating because the kids are not walking around a neighborhood and to strangers’ doors.

“You do not know what’s in the candy or who is answering the door,” said Terry Polvado, vice president of the Safety Centers children’s division.

Kids played games such as ping-pong toss, mini-bowling, miniature golf and others.

In a game that involved searching for gold, kids tried to find a “gold” coin in a plastic pool filled with sand. When they found the coin, they were awarded with a piece of candy.

In playing the Hula-Hoop Ringtoss, kids tried to toss a hula hoop over a construction cone.

Kids also played a spin-the-wheel game where they learned a few kitchen safety tips. The colors where the arrow of the wheel stopped represented the colors of the cards that had questions for the kids. Examples of questions were: “How could you extinguish campfire coals?” and “In the kitchen, how should cords to cooking appliances by kept?”

They were rewarded with a packet of pretzels after correctly answering the questions.

Activities other than games were a bounce house and face painting.

“Face painting is really nice (because) kids like to pretend different characters and match the characters,” said Melinda Galloway, an employee of Maya’s Playhouse.

In addition to games, attendees entered a raffle where they could win tickets to play laser tag and miniature golf at Golfland, attend Kovar’s Satori Academy of Martial Arts, visit the California Automobile Museum or win a Hello Kitty helmet.

Safetyville planned to raise $15,000 from the event. Money from ticket sales and the raffle will benefit Safetyville USA’s educational programs, such as tours where kids learn bicycle riding tips, how to cross streets and others.

The first Halloween Haunt was held 19 years ago on Oct. 31, but to not interfere with church and community events, the event has since been held a week prior to Halloween, Polvado said.

Michelle Curtis can be reached at [email protected].