Mattapan and Dorchester kids enjoy Halloween

Kids were out Halloween night trick-or-treating and enjoying a number of events organized throughout Dorchester and Mattapan.

Pictured: A boy took part in one of the games offered Thursday night at the Perkins Community Center.

Staff at the Perkins Community Center in Dorchester planned a night of fun and fright, as the center held its first ever “Boo-tastic Fall Festival.’’

Pictured: Nyla James, 7, worked on her putt with a little help from volunteer Chauntia Little.

Although the Perkins Center has held Halloween-themed events in the past, this was by far the community center’s largest.

“Having events like this are truly essential to the community,’’ explained Troy Smith, the administrative coordinator for the center. “It gives both parents and kids a safe place to enjoy Halloween and have some good clean fun.’’

Pictured: Brianna Whelton, 10, took aim as she participated in one of the Perkins’ carnival games.

To make sure everyone had a good time Halloween night, it took an army of volunteers.

Pictured: Keema Green, 12, and Charisse Peeler, a staff member at Perkins, helped prepare goodie bags for the night. Nearly 400 bags were handed out to local children.

Over at the Mattahunt Community Center on the Mattapan/Hyde Park border, members of the community center’s staff and volunteers from the Mattapan Patriots Pop-Warner team, converted the center’s auditorium into a giant haunted house.

Pictured: Volunteers waited in the Mattahunt’s haunted house for the next round of children brave enough to enter its hallways.

About 150 families turned out Thursday to take part in all fun and games planned for the Mattahunt center.

Pictured: Jazlene Ortiz, 5, tried her luck at one of the carnival games offered Thursday night.

Volunteers waited for the next round of kids to visit the Mattahunt’s haunted house.

Julissa Ortiz, 9, took part in a number of the games offered at the Matthunt center, including the egg run.