Southcentre Shopping Center opened its doors early Sunday to offer a sensory Halloween activity for children with special needs.

The mall has partnered with Autism Calgary since 2014 to offer sensory-friendly seasonal events.

Tracy Mendoza, the organization’s community and events coordinator, expressed her gratitude to Southcentre Mall. The mall dimmed its lights, turned off its music and invited families to visit before the mall’s regular operating hours on Sunday.

The mall also hosted sensory sensitive children at Christmas and Easter.

“With Southcentre Mall, all of our sensory activities are timed so they can come in and have a good experience before moving on to the next station,” Mendoza said. “There are five stations total in the mall, all downstairs where they can play a game and then trick-or-treat.

“Autism Calgary is grateful to any community or organization that welcomes us and helps our children have a wonderful experience, and we are truly grateful for that, especially the Southcentre Mall.

“Today is all about helping those with sensory sensitivities, no matter your age,” she said. “It’s not just autism, but it’s also pretty common in autism, so people with sensory sensitivities can experience Halloween and go trick-or-treating without the hassles that you would have at a certain time at the mall, or even on the street, in a community, (or) going door to door.” .

With files from CTV’s Tyson Fedor