Pearl City families will have to find a different way to celebrate a familiar Halloween tradition this year. The Pearl City Shopping Center Merchants Association has ended its annual Halloween Costume Contest and Trick or Treat Parade after decades of bringing local children and families together.

For years, the shopping center celebration gave keiki a chance to show off costumes, collect treats and spend time with neighbors. At its busiest, the event drew more than 300 children and their families. The last edition attracted about 50 children, a decline that helped prompt organizers to reconsider the event.

Organizers also pointed to the closure of the shopping center's Chuck E. Cheese location as a factor in the changing turnout. The final celebration took place outdoors on the upper level near Bank of Hawaii. The smaller crowd was a noticeable change from the event's busier years.

The shopping center is not ending its support for Halloween in Pearl City. Instead, the merchants association is putting money toward other community activities. That distinction matters for families who may have heard that the costume contest and parade were being discontinued and assumed all shopping center Halloween support was disappearing.

The association is contributing $1,000 to a private haunted house at Highlands Intermediate School and $500 toward the Pearl City Foundation Halloween Bash scheduled for October 31 at Momilani Community Center. The Highlands Intermediate activity is described as private, so families should not assume it is open to the public.

The Pearl City Foundation event offers another local point of interest as Halloween approaches. Families considering attending should confirm the event's latest details, including admission and activities, with the organizers before making plans. The financial contributions show that the merchants association is shifting its support rather than walking away from community celebrations.

That shift also reflects a challenge faced by many long-running neighborhood events. Traditions can be meaningful even when attendance changes. Families have different schedules, children grow older, and the places where people gather evolve. An event that once filled a shopping center may need a different format to remain useful to the community.

For Pearl City merchants, a seasonal celebration can also be a chance to connect with nearby residents outside of ordinary shopping trips. For parents, it can offer a familiar setting where children see friends and classmates. Those connections are harder to measure than attendance alone.

The decision does not erase the years of costumes, photographs and memories associated with the parade. Residents who participated as children may now be raising keiki of their own. Others may remember volunteering, helping with prizes or stopping by to watch the costumes.

At the same time, the change creates room for new Halloween traditions. Support for school and community activities may reach families in ways the original contest no longer did. Whether those events become lasting annual favorites will depend on organizers, volunteers and local participation.

For now, the practical takeaway is straightforward: the longtime shopping center costume contest and trick-or-treat parade are over, but other Pearl City Halloween activities are receiving support. Families looking for something to do this October should check directly with event organizers for current information rather than relying on memories of past shopping center celebrations.

Pearl City's neighborhood traditions have always depended on people showing up for one another. The setting may change, but the chance to bring families together remains.