Halloween will find Harvard’s Common filled with little ghosts, goblins, and beasties from all over Harvard and surrounding towns, roaming from house to house looking for candy, treats, or whatever other goodies homeowners might be willing to dispense. This trick-or-treating tradition owes its existence to Bolton Road resident Mary Jane Shelton, who organized a drive to provide candy for town-center residents to distribute.

Shelton said that, as a child, she used to revel in the traditions of creating or buying the perfect costume, being among friends during the electric atmosphere of Halloween night, and trick-or-treating from house to house. When Shelton had children, and they grew to be old enough to appreciate the significance of Halloween, she was reminded of “how much little kids love to dress up.” Becoming a policeman, a ghost, or a fairy for a night—what more could a kid ask for? After her family’s move to Bolton Road from Ridley Park, Penn. 16 years ago, Shelton was eager to recreate the magic of her childhood Halloween right here in Harvard.

But Halloween in Harvard presented a few obstacles, she said. The Sheltons live on one of the more rural roads in town. The houses in their area are too spread out for traditional door-to-door trick-or-treating. What’s more, Shelton said, she found that since many of her children’s friends lived across town, there was little likelihood of them crossing paths. Many other Harvard residents shared this predicament.

Shelton found that over the years, some Harvard residents had begun gravitating toward the town Common on Halloween, a natural nucleus for trick-or-treating fun. But the night ended early—town-center residents simply couldn’t supply enough candy for the droves of hopeful children who had no place to go on Halloween. Shelton investigated, searching for a common solution to the Common dilemma. She talked to the folks at the library and the police station. She began to form an idea of a more organized Halloween event, centered around the Common, to give Harvard a focal point for the festivities.

A rough plan developed, wherein Harvard folk who didn’t live near the town center could contribute candy, using the police station as a drop-off and distribution point. Hardworking dispatchers would divide and bag the contributions, and Shelton would distribute them to the houses that stood near the epicenter of Halloween activity. The plan worked and over time it flourished, with homeowners in town center getting into the spirit by decking out their homes for the holiday.

Joan and Dan McGrath of Fairbank Street decorate their 2,000-square-foot barn each year with enthusiastic help from 14-year-old daughter Casey and her friends. In 2004, they expressed their Red Sox loyalty by displaying a gory graveyard full of Yankee-clad manikins, their upper torsos jutting out of the soil. What about taking a year off from wild decorations? Dan McGrath said, “You’re never going to be able to back down, never going to be able to turn it off.”

Ann and Kevin Durand of Mass. Ave. walked out onto their front porch before Halloween last year and asked themselves, “What does this look like?” casting their eyes on their gazebo bump-out. They decided it resembled the back of a ship. They had no choice, they said, but to transform their house into a pirate vessel, complete with masts and sails.

The McGraths and the Durands aren’t the only ones to get into the spirit of things: more than 40 houses participate, and every year there are surprising and inventive themes for all to enjoy.

Halloween night is a time when many parents worry about their teenagers driving and getting into mischief. Trick-or-treating on the Common has become a “huge block party” for everyone in town, where older kids and adults can enjoy themselves just as much as the little ones. Police block off streets and even give out glow sticks and fluorescent bags. It is a safe, stress-free option for all ages.

The tradition of trick-or-treating around the Common has even inspired the community association For Art’s Sake. This year, the group has organized “Pumpkin-athon: Lit on Mass.” Harvard residents are encouraged to carve pumpkins of any size or level of complexity. On Halloween, they can bring them to the cemetery wall on Mass. Ave. (between the high school and the General Store). At 6 p.m., they will be lit in what For Art’s Sake member Melissa Yahia has predicted will be a “creative event and awesome spectacle.”

Shelton summed up Harvard’s Halloween tradition perfectly: “In a nutshell, we are helping our kids create memories.”