The Old Mill was filled with witches, soldiers, skeletons, dragons, bears and more on Sunday, as families crowded the shopping area for some Halloween trick-or-treating.

Mackenzie White, 6, donned a bright orange wig, purple dress and neon green scarf to dress up as Daphne from Scooby Doo, and joined her friend Eliana Clute, 5, who added pink streaks to her hair to complete her mermaid outfit. The two collected candy and treats from the different Old Mill stores, but Mackenzie said she loved other spooky festivities as well.

“We get to go out at night and carve pumpkins,” she said.

The Old Mill Halloween Party, held Sunday afternoon, featured trick-or-treating for the kids as well as horse-drawn wagon rides, pumpkin painting and mask-making.

Christian Fraser, 8, of Bend, was dressed as a “special ops ninja,” and said he was excited to go trick-or-treating and see the other kids’ costumes.

He had a plan for candy collection as well — like a good ninja, he would blend in with his surroundings and then jump out to grab the goodies.

“I’m going to get a ton of candy,” he said.

Cora Faith came to the event with her 21-month-old son, Arlo Maudlin, who was dressed as a lion, and her 3-year-old daughter, Petra Maudlin, who was dressed as a witch.

Faith said she was thinking of dressing up as a wardrobe, but settled on Mother Goose instead.

“It’s kid friendly for this age,” she said of the Old Mill event. “I didn’t expect so many people.”

In front of Gap Kids, Rihana Debler was handing out candy constantly — an hour into the event, and she had to refill the big bowl of Starburst and Skittles six times.

“It’s been crazy, it’s been nonstop,” she said. “I’ve had 10 kids at a time.”

With that, kids dressed as Dorothy from the “Wizard of Oz,” a dinosaur, Tigger, a cowgirl, a spaceman and an alien came up, saying “trick-or-treat” and holding out their bags.

“They’re so cute,” Debler said.

Callista West and her friend, Annabel Hueske, both 10, dressed up in Girl Scout cookies costumes they had made at troop meetings, and Callista’s sister Jenessa, 7, was warm in a shaggy dog outfit.

The three said they like to sort their candy after successful trick-or-treating events. But while Callista sorts them into categories — chocolates in one pile, hard candy in another, for example — Annabel sorts them by color. But they all agreed it was fun to go out in the afternoon to start the Halloween fun.

“We can kind of get a head start, before it gets too cold,” Callista said.