WAILUKU, Maui — For the first time in years, Front Street in Lahaina will be open to traffic in the evening on Halloween, The Maui News reported.

Lahaina's annual Halloween bash has been known to attract crowds of up to 30,000 revelers. However, in July, the Maui County Cultural Resources Commission denied permits for the LahainaTown Action Committee to conduct a formal Halloween program, including its popular costume contest, within the Lahaina Historic District.

Maui police and Lahaina business leaders don't expect the decision to dissuade many people from partying in the waterfront town Friday night.

"I guess the question a lot of people are asking is, 'What will Halloween be like this year in Lahaina?' " said Maui County spokeswoman Lois Bisquera.

Maui police on Monday said that Front Street in Lahaina will be closed Friday from Baker to Prison streets at 3 p.m. for the annual keiki parade. Front Street will reopen to vehicles following the children's costume parade about 6 p.m., according to a Maui County statement.

The Keiki Halloween Parade is sponsored by the Soroptimist International of West Maui organization and will start at 4:30 p.m. at the end of Banyan Tree Park.

Lahaina is designated a state and national historic district. After more than a year of debate on the issue, members of the Cultural Resources Commission concluded that the large celebration does nothing to promote the town's Hawaiian cultural history. In addition, the cases of public drunkenness, lewd behavior and risque costumes insult the legacy of the town as a former capital of the islands, critics of the Halloween festival said.

Without the permit, LahainaTown Action Committee was barred from advertising the event, sponsoring booths or setting up stages.

However, some area businesses plan to put up portable toilets on private property, Bisquera said.

The initial decision upset some business owners since the event provides a bump to tourism during a normally slow time of the year.

"The police will be there as they normally would be," said county spokeswoman Mahina Martin.

"But this will be interesting because we are trying to transition from a major event to something that is not there anymore, so this is an unusual year."

Martin said that the merchants stepped in and hired a nonprofit to provide cleanup services.

Police will also be closely monitoring the changeover, she said.

"The business owners could have been in a blaming mode, but we met with them and and it was nothing but, 'What can we do?' " Martin said.

LahainaTown Action Committee members have said they brought organization to the event after the party started to swell in the 1980s on its own.

The Maui Police Department also plans to conduct islandwide drunken driving checkpoints Friday evening.

For more information on the keiki parade, call Soroptimist Director Ruth McKay at 808-283-5193.

For more Maui news, visit www.mauinews.com.