The uniform of the day changed dramatically at the Englewood Recreation Center, when instead of exercise clothes, a steady parade of costumed characters filed in the door for the annual Halloween Carnival.

Inside, instead of basketball or volleyball, the gymnasium was occupied Oct. 25 with inflatables, games and activities. Additionally, kids and adults could watch a magic show, visit the creepy, crawler critter room or make their way through the haunted maze.

The carnival has been an annual event for years and, again this year, attendees included an assortment of super heroes, vampires, witches and other assorted characters and creatures.

There was a lion in a stroller and a Ninja turtle cuddled in a mother’s arms. But not everyone in costume was a child.

Cori Woessner donned the attire of a woman from the Middle Ages and each of her three children were in costume because, for them, the carnival was a family affair.

“We’ve been coming four or five years and the kids just love it,” Woessner said. “I like it because it is a safe place where there is more to do than just walk around, knock on doors and collect candy. The kids love it because there are so many activities. The kids particularly love the creepy reptile show and they are really looking forward to seeing what the man has this year.”

Terri Langford was in costume but sat quietly on the bleachers watching all the activities.

“This year, my two neighbors and I brought a total of eight kids and this is the perfect place for them. I like to bring them here because I know it is safe to just turn them loose so each kid can run around and have fun,” she said with a smile. “Right now, they are scattered all over the place, doing their own thing. They stop by here occasionally to check in and drop off the candy they have collected. They are having a great time and so am I — just relaxing and watching to see what kind of costumes people wear.”

Evan Dalton’s costume as Lego Man attracted attention.

His parents made the costume and Candee said it didn’t look like it would be hard to make at first.

“That changed as we started trying to put it together,” she said. “We found the glue wouldn’t hold the parts together when he moved around and it took a while to make it flexible so he could walk.”

His dad Clint agreed and noted they worked on the costume on and off for two or three days until they got it to work.

Adults had fun with costumes, too. One man came wearing a suit and a mask so he looked like former President Ronald Reagan, another man had a prize-winning costume that made him look like a Pac-Man game and two children also were prize winners for their costumes inspired by Dr. Seuss as one dressed as green eggs and the other as ham.