Trunk or treaters enjoy new festivities downtown

Pirates Harper Leahy, 3, and Gauge Smith, 6, hunt for treasure (candy) at this year's Trunk or Treat.

BY LUCIE KRISMAN

For Parks and Recreation Director Sally Pennington, a big part of the Trunk or Treat magic on Saturday happened before the event officially started.

"Thirty minutes before the trunk or treat starts and look at all these people that obviously have busy lives but are here helping," Pennington said. "It's community and this is a prime example."

Members of the Eudora community of all ages lined the streets hoping for candy at Eudora's Trunk or Treat event Saturday.

After collecting candy, Trunk or Treaters made their way toward new festivities at the end of Main Street, such as bounce castles, a pumpkin toss, a haunted corn maze and a petting zoo.

This year's Trunk or Treat also featured a costume contest for children and pets to enter and a beer garden that opened at 5 p.m.

As a second-time Trunk or Treat goer, Eudora resident Jessie Hamm was happy about the chance to trick or treat with her family before possible stormy weather on Halloween.

"We love it," Hamm said. "If the weather is bad like they say it's supposed to be, then this is our trick or treat."

The Eudora Convention and Visitor's Bureau collaborated with the Chamber of Commerce and the Parks and Recreation Department to plan this year's Trunk or Treat.

For event directors Jenny Hellwig and Elizabeth Knispel, the best part of putting on Trunk or Treat each year is "getting the community out and just putting on an event that everyone can enjoy."

Event director Elizabeth Knispel said consideration of having something for people of all ages to do on Main Street went into planning the new additions.

"There's a lot of odds and ends that go into every sort of event, but we knew that we wanted to incorporate all ages," Knispel said.

Event director Jenny Hellwig said the new activities were also intended to keep event-goers enjoying the downtown atmosphere even after they were done trick or treating.

"We wanted to make it more of a festival atmosphere, so instead of just trick or treating, we wanted to add more activities to extend the time that people were spending in downtown Eudora," Hellwig said.

Eudora resident Gina Russell was impressed by the new activities and what Trunk or Treat does for the local community.

"They're really going all out this year," Russell said. "They just keep growing. This is the stuff that really keeps us involved with each other."

Reach reporter Lucie Krisman at eudoratimes@gmail.com.

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