Boo on the Bayou: A Red Stick Apocalypse! — Baton Rouge’s second annual Halloween Parade — rolled through downtown Saturday on a route about double the length of last year’s.

Nonprofit organization 10/31 Consortium and its Halloween Parade began as a conversation between friends Kelley Criscoe and Adrienne Harrison, and evolved to benefit Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital, the Baton Rouge Food Bank and Big Buddy.

Parade proceeds are donated to the hospital, canned food items are collected during the parade for the food bank, and 10/31 Consortium holds a costume drive for children in the Big Buddy program. The 10/31 Consortium received a $1,000 grant from 225 Fund to support its initiative to make trick-or-treating a blueprint for lower income neighborhoods to develop community activities as a crime deterrent.

“We believe a good way to fight crime is an active and engaged neighborhood,” said Criscoe. The project is still in fundraising stage, but Criscoe said she hopes it will be in operation next year.