Witches Night Out, a community block party that has become an annual Halloween tradition in Steelville, is returning to town for its fourth consecutive year on Friday, Oct. 23. Festivities will take place from 5 p.m. until around 10 p.m.

The event will bring a night of spooky fun to Steelville’s Main Street, including games, activities, food, with sales booths from local vendors and artisans. The event, as in years past, is being organized by Steelville Tourism.

Steelville Tourism member Mary Becker said that putting on events like Witches Night Out is one way that the board tries to bring people from around the region to Steelville, while also creating a fun community event for locals.

“We’re continually looking for events and ways to bring outside people in and introduce them to Steelville, in addition to bringing fun events to the citizens of Steelville,” Becker said. “That’s what tourism does. We’re not doing this for profit. We’re really doing this just to bring more people to Steelville.”

This year, the event will feature 45 vendors and food trucks, which were allowed to register as sellers free-of-charge.

Becker said that visitors can expect a variety of goods and services from this year’s slate of vendors.

“We have anything from food trucks, to beverages, non-alcoholic beverage trucks to crafted goods from local vendors,” Becker said.

Steelville Tourism expects a crowd of at least 150 people to attend. The first 100 attendees will receive free “swag bags” — shopping bags that include a “witch passport” with information on Main Street’s permanent local retailers, and what kind of special sales they’re offering during Witches Night Out.

Local businesses have also planned some unique entertainment for Witches Night Out. The Main Deck will be serving drinks and hosting karaoke all night long.

Suzi Lee Photography, LLC. will be operating a live, Halloween photo booth, where visitors can have themed-photos taken with props and costumes.

Becker said that she’s personally excited about the photo booth.

“That’s really fun. You’re gonna get together with your best witch friends and take funny pictures,” Becker said, adding that visitors are encouraged to dress up in a Halloween costume for the event. “The more that are dressed up, the more fun it truly is, because the witches get all googly and gaggly out on the sidewalk, commenting on each other’s witch costumes.”

The event will also include free “wagon rides” between Main Street and Heartland Arts Gallery and Gifts during festivities. The hayride-style shuttle will ferry visitors up and down Main Street in order to allow event-goers easy access to booths and business across town.