As they did last year, Chapel Hill officials are planning to implement measures on Saturday to limit the size of the Halloween crowd on Franklin Street.

The annual celebration had drawn crowds of up 80,000 people before the town put new policies into effect for last year's holiday. Town officials credited that effort, called Homegrown Halloween, with keeping last year's celebration to a more manageable 35,00 to 45,000.

Homegrown Halloween, said Mayor Kevin Foy, is "a grassroots campaign to keep Oct. 31st in Chapel Hill small, local and, most importantly, as safe as possible."

Foy said the idea is to return the public celebration to its community roots. Huge crowds like those in past years, he said, pose public safety hazards including the potential for increased crime, crowd panic, gang violence and alcohol poisoning.

This year, he added the threat of H1N1 flu to that list; health officials say large crowds increase the chances of transmission of the virus.

"In order to manage the event we discourage visitors on Halloween this year," Foy said. "We don't want to see uncomfortably large numbers of people squeezed into our small downtown, as we have experienced on past Halloweens."

Main downtown thoroughfares will be closed to vehicular traffic starting at about 9 p.m. No vehicular traffic will be allowed in the closed area once the streets are closed. Access to the residential areas immediately around the central business district will be limited to residents and their guests.

The closed area will be:

Franklin Street from Raleigh Street to Roberson Street

Columbia Street from Cameron Avenue to Rosemary Street

Raleigh Street from Cameron Avenue to East Franklin Street.

Vehicles parked on the 100 block of East Franklin, West Franklin, Henderson and North Columbia streets will be towed starting at 6 p.m.

There will be virtually no parking in the downtown area, and no shuttle buses will run from park and ride lots.

Downtown restaurants and bars will close their doors to new patrons at 1 a.m., and will charge a minimum $5 cover charge to patrons not attending private events.

Prohibited items in the closed area include alcoholic beverages, weapons, glass bottles, paint, fireworks or explosives, flammable substances, animals and coolers.

Items, even as part of a costume, that could be used as weapons or mistaken for weapons will be confiscated.

Police plan to re-open Franklin Street to regular traffic at midnight.

For more information, call 968-2760, ext. 134 or 968-2743, e-mail psmith@townofchapelhill.org, or see www.ci.chapel-hill.nc.us.