The successful end to a seven-week manhunt for a suspected police killer means some northeast Pennsylvania children will get to celebrate Halloween in the traditional fashion after all. 
 
 Barrett Township supervisors immediately started getting the word out that the hundreds of children in town can go trick-or-treating Friday since fugitive Eric Frein was taken into custody Thursday. 
 
 Chairman Ralph Megliola said everyone in the Pocono Mountain community of some 4,100 was relieved, and Helen Blackmore said residents are eager to get back to normal. 
 
 "It's been a long 48 days," Megliola said shortly after police announced Frein's capture. 
 
 As if by proclamation, he announced: "Trick-or-treating is on tomorrow night from 6 to 8 in Barrett Township. We as a town think the kids have gone through enough." 
 
 Frein faces charges of ambushing state police barracks Sept. 12, killing one trooper and wounding another. 
 
 Throughout it all, residents in and around the five-mile search area endured road blockades, school closings, and the whir of helicopters overhead. There were times when they weren't allowed home. And there were always the unsettling thoughts that a criminal suspect was somewhere in their woods. 
 
 As Friday neared and Frein hadn't been caught, trick-or-treating and what would have been the 50th anniversary celebration of their Halloween parade were canceled. 
 
 Kids still managed to celebrate by "trunk-or-treating" at a tailgate party held Sunday at a school parking lot, and organizers said that was a success. Children turned out for activities including face painting and a costume contest, and to see dozens of car trunks decorated for the spooky holiday. Oh, and to get lots of candy. 
 
 "It really was a great day," said Cheryl Jones, a member of the township's Halloween parade committee. 
 
 The committee had originally planned to hold the 50th anniversary of the town's Halloween parade on Sunday, but authorities said the logistics would have presented problems during the manhunt. The event draws participants from all over the region, and includes marching bands, floats, costumed revelers throwing candy and thousands of spectators gathered along a main road, committee chairwoman Betty Oppelt said Thursday. 
 
 "The Halloween parade is a big, big, big deal," Oppelt said. "This is not a rinky-dink parade." 
 
 They planned to celebrate the 50th in 2015. 
 
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 Follow Kathy Matheson at www.twitter.com/kmatheson ||||| A Pennsylvania town has banned trick-or-treating this year while hundreds of cops search nearby woods for accused cop killer Eric Frein. 
 
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 The Barrett Township said its annual Halloween parade and 5K Scarecrow Race are canceled indefinitely, and trick-or-treating is banned this year, as the dragnet for Frein is now in its fourth week. The suspect is believed to be hiding out in thick woods near the town. 
 
 "This parade is probably one of the biggest events that the town has every year," Ralph Megliola, chairman of the township's Board of Supervisors, told ABC News today. "Everyone looks forward to the parade. Myself and my family personally have been away and cut our vacation short to get home in time for the parade. Thousands of people line the streets." 
 
 Butch Comegys/Scranton Times & Tribune/AP Photo 
 
 Megliola said that this year would have been the town's 50th anniversary parade. It was scheduled for Oct. 26. 
 
 The dragnet for Frein has residents of the normally sleepy town in the Pocono Mountains on edge. 
 
 "I'm the father of a 9-year-old," Megliola said. "We do things a little differently now. I'm not so comfortable with him going outside and playing anymore." 
 
 The manhunt and increased police presence is also hurting tourism and businesses in the Poconos. Frequent road blocks, hunting restrictions, and school closures right after the shootings add to the inconvenience. 
 
 Pennsylvania State Police Dept. 
 
 "Now we have that question in the back of our mind -- is he here? Where is he?" Megliola added. "Any time you drive through town, it's not uncommon to see 20 to 40 police cars or a helicopter or two or three flying above." 
 
 Many people worried that Frein could escape during the Halloween activities with the help of disguises or costumes, ABC affiliate WNEP reported. 
 
 If he's found before Halloween, Megliola said the town will reconsider its Halloween activities. For now, a "trunk-or-treat" will be held in the parking lot of a Catholic school in a nearby township. 
 
 Police have been searching the woods, focusing on the border of Pike and Monroe counties, since after the shooting at the Blooming Grove police barracks on Sept. 12. Frein allegedly killed one officer and injured another. 
 
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– With accused cop killer Eric Frein still on the loose and presumably holed up in the nearby woods, a town in rural Pennsylvania has taken the unusual step of canceling Halloween festivities this year, reports ABC News. That means no trick-or-treating and no annual parade for Barrett Township. It's not just that residents fear for the safety of kids—they're also worried that Frein could take advantage of the night to grab a costume and escape the area. The town will instead organize an event at the local high school where people can hand out candy, reports NBC Philadelphia. Frein is accused of shooting to death one state trooper and wounding another on Sept. 12. Authorities tracking him have found various items in the woods, including a journal in which the shootings are discussed in "chilling" detail.