Alice painted a butterfly on the back of a little girl’s hand. A few steps away, the White Rabbit was seated at tea.

“He cannot be standing,” said Heather Kohler, co-chairwoman of this year’s Fairy Tale Trail. A tall person in a rabbit costume can be very intimidating to a 3-foot-tall child.

Fairy Tale Trail is a Halloween experience focused on “fun, not fright” and designed to include children with disabilities, said Diane Golan, president of the Woman’s Club of Evanston.

The Trail, which began in 1990, took place Friday and Saturday afternoon at the Woman’s Club, 1702 Chicago Ave.

Designed for children ages 2 through 8, the Trail draws about 1,000 children each year, Golan estimated. At that age, Halloween is too scary for some children, Golan said.

Trick-or-treating also can be difficult for children with disabilities. Instead, they can come to the Trail in costume, Golan said.

The Trail leads visitors through eight storybook-themed rooms, set up in the clubhouse’s ballroom. Each room has a variety of activities so children can use touch, sight and sound to enjoy the journey, Golan said.

In the “Nursery Rhyme” room, the three bears were not just drawn on the wall, but made of fur the children could feel. Cupboards opened to reveal forks and spoons that could be taken out and played with.

“There are a lot of barriers that people might not think of when designing for children with disabilities,” said Annie Hayashi, director of marketing at Lekotek, the Trail’s co-sponsor, which consults with the Woman’s Club to make sure the Trail is fully accessible for children of all abilities.

Lekotek is an Evanston nonprofit organization that works with kids with disabilities and their families.

“The main focus is to allow special needs kids to enjoy the holiday, ” Golan said.

In the “Space” room, the space shuttle was a tent that could be lifted up and placed over children in wheelchairs. In other rooms, objects were placed at wall or table level for those children to reach.

“For a lot of them, this is the only Halloween they’re going to get,” Kohler said. “It was such a joy for them to be here,”

Wilmette resident Kathleen O’Connell watched as her son Ryan, 5, drilled into a peg board, wearing a yellow construction hat.

“I think it’s adorable,” O’Connell said. “The kids seem to really like it.”

The Trail required at least 80 volunteers per day to staff, Golan said. This year at least 12 Northwestern sorority members volunteered.

The Evans Scholars also help every year with the set-up and take-down. Golan said the Trail could not happen without the group’s help.

New Trier High School and Evanston Township High School students helped with publicity and volunteered to play characters along the Trail.

“We have a lot of costumed characters wandering about – it reminds kids of Disneyland,” Golan said.

Characters in every room wear costumes made by Woman’s Club members. The costumes are worked on and improved over the years, Golan said.

Niki Horrell, an Evanston resident and member of the Woman’s Club, has volunteered with the Trail for three years.

“It’s extremely rewarding to see the smile on the kids’ faces,” Horrell said. “I feel very lucky to be a mermaid. I was a cow this morning.”

The Pumpkin Patch Cafe was a new addition this year, made possible by donations from 25 restaurants and grocery stores.

The Fairy Tale Trail cost $5 per child and adults were admitted free. The Trail is funded entirely by entry fees. The groups have applied for grants but have not yet received any funding.

Friday morning was reserved for school groups that visited the Trail for free.

In the future the Woman’s Club would like to provide bus scholarships for schools to bring groups to visit, Golan said. She was hopeful they would do that next year.