A Ghoulish Good Time at the UPtown Yonge BIA's Hallowe'en HauntUP 2026

What a day! On Saturday, October 31, the Republic Residents' Association joined neighbours from across our community at the 5th annual Hallowe'en HauntUP, presented by the UPtown Yonge BIA at the basketball court at 20 Castlefield Avenue. The RRA was proud to take part as a community partner, and our booth was busy from start to finish.

The RRA team at our booth, with special guests Councillor Josh Matlow and UPtown Yonge BIA Executive Director Tasneem Bandukwala

The Ghoulish Guess Game

The star of our booth was the Ghoulish Guessing game. Visitors of all ages took their best guess at how many candies were packed into two very spooky boxes, the Orange Spider Box and the Black Skull Box, knowing the closest guess would take the whole box home.

The RRA booth, all set up and ready for guessers

Neighbours stopping by the booth to enter their guesses

A steady stream of visitors at the RRA booth

And the Winners Are...

Debra, who guessed the Orange Spider Box perfectly, landing exactly on 347 candies.

Natalia, who came within a single candy of the Black Skull Box total with her guess of 387.

Congratulations to both winners, who have now collected their ghoulish gifts!

Debra with her Orange Spider Box

Natalia with her Black Skull Box

A Community That Shows Up

One of the best parts of the day was seeing so many familiar faces from our buildings, and meeting residents from other buildings in the neighbourhood who stopped by because of our outreach. We were also honoured that Councillor Josh Matlow gave the RRA a special mention in his remarks to the crowd.

Thank You

A heartfelt thank you to Tasneem Bandukwala, Executive Director of the UPtown Yonge BIA, and to Peter Chang, Chair of the BIA Board, for welcoming us as a community partner and for so generously covering our event expenses. We are grateful for the partnership.

Thank you as well to our wonderful RRA volunteers, for their work ahead of the event and throughout the day.

And thank you to everyone who stopped by our booth, entered a guess, or simply came over to say hello. We are already looking forward to next Hallowe'en!

Geri Berholz and Miria Ioannou

Co-Chairs, The Republic Residents' Association