Costumes and candy are lining the shelves of many stores around Selma, which can only mean that Halloween is almost here. With Halloween brings the return of the annual Halloween Monster March.

The Monster March is an event put on by the Downtown Selma Association for children zero to 12 years old.

“We march down Broad Street and the merchants downtown pass out candy to all the children,” Shebra Kidd, director of the Downtown Selma Association said.

In years past the march lead children and their parents to the Performing Arts Center for a costume contest, but this year, “I wanted to make it bigger and better,” Kidd said. “The city of Selma is going to help me this year, so we’re going to call it Monster March Fall Fest.”

The march will continue as it always has, beginning at the Selma-Dallas County Public Library at 4 p.m.

“They don’t have to register or anything,” Kidd said of children interested in participating in Monster March Fall Fest. “They just have to show up at the library at 4 p.m. in costume, ready to march down Broad Street and get their candy. Then they’ll go to the Selma Times-Journal to get their pictures made, then go back to the convention center to do the Fall Fest.”

The Fall Fest at the Carl C. Morgan Convention Center will consist of games, face painting, a deejay playing music and a costume contest. There will also be hot dogs, chips and Pepsi products, along with lots of games and prizes.

“So it will be a Fall Fest, instead of just the costume contest and the marching down Broad Street,” Kidd said. “It will be like a little carnival.”

The costume contest will be similar to those in years past. Children must be dressed in a costume to participate, and prizes will be given out for the scariest, funniest and ugliest costumes, among others.

The most original costume will be awarded the Miss Kitty Windham Award. The recipient of the Miss Kitty Windham Award will receive a cash prize. This award is given out in remembrance of Kitty Windham, Kidd said.

The Monster March Fall Fest is sponsored by the Downtown Selma Association, the city of Selma and the Times-Journal.