It was a splendid time at the Youth Task Force's Trunk or Treat and Parks and Recreation's Halloween Haunt on Oct. 28th from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe's Fire Department truck blocked off a part of East Broadway and vehicles started lining up and getting their bags of candy opened for the little ghosts and goblins to come by with their bags opened and to say those three magic words, trick or treat.
My, there were different costumes that these clever kids came up with for example, Bigfoot, a rocket ship, Smurfette and many other different costumes.
Not only were the kids dressed up for the event but some of the departments were also dressed up. The night was getting chilly, so what better way to spend the rest of the night but inside at the Halloween Haunt inside of the tribal gym starting at 6 p.m.
Parks and Recreation did a wonderful job decorating the front entrance as if it was walking through a haunted house and that did not stop there. Fog from the machines had filled the air as if someone would be walking through a moon lit forest. From inflatable pumpkins, to a woman with glowing eyes inside of a coffin it made the night quite interesting.
Kevin Chamberlain dressed in what could be called vampire gear, was the master of DJ skills for the night.
Mr. Phantom of the Opera, Joseph Sowmick was the MC for the event.
"It was kind of fun," Sowmick said. "I think the best part about it was to see all of the families that came out and I know Candy is going to be a big draw with the Trunk or Treat but it is almost where both of these events done by the youth task force and Halloween haunt done by parks and recreation are successful enough that they could possibly run on their own. Just like any other community event, there wasn't any other community event for the evening because everyone was planning on going to the Halloween party. I think that's why we had such a great turn out."
The attendance this year was the biggest that parks and recreation has ever seen from the previous Halloween parties they hosted.
"I think with the success of Trunk or Treat and what we saw coming through the door, it was more like 650," said Joseph Sowmick, Events Coordinator for parks and recreation.
Delicious blanket dogs, chili and frybread were made by Cindy Quigno, Susan Bettistea and Flossie Sprague and with the large turnout all of the food ran out.
"It was a successful event but once the food ran out, that was when the crowd started dissipating and that was around 8 p.m."
Events throughout the night included a cupcake walk, pie eating contest, a cookie walk for children under 13, a cake walk, and different departments had their own games set up for the community to enjoy. There was also a costume contest. The divisions for the costume contests were boys and girls 10 and under, boys and girls 11 to 17, men and women 18 to 49 and an elders divisions.
They also had a family costume contest where there had to be 3 or more dressed up in a costume theme.
"All of those contests were well received," Sowmick said.
With the huge turnout of people this year there are talks of future plans for next years events.
"We are on that kind of brink where the event is so successful we almost have to look for a different venue or maybe even have to hold part of it outside in order to accommodate everyone," Sowmick said.