For the second year in a row, there were easily more than 1,000 people who attended the Trunk or Treat event on the square in Mountain Grove this past Saturday.
I have attended many Trunk or Treat-type events in the past 18 years working in the newspaper industry, but never have I attended one with such a steady flow of trick or treaters as what Mountain Grove has hosted the past two years.
This year, my family was blessed to have the opportunity to hand out candy on behalf of Emmanuel Baptist Church.
In preparation of the event, we created around 400 invitations to hand out to trick or treaters, letting them know they are invited to come to our church any time.
Those slips were gone by around 5:45 p.m. as they were given only to trick or treaters.
After running out of forms, we likely gave candy to another 200 trick or treaters. If just one parent/person was with a trick or treater, that guarantees at least 1,200 people attended the event.
Of course, many trick or treaters had two ore more adults with them.
While my wife was busy greeting each person and offering a verbal invitation to every trick or treater that came by, I barely had time to get out one to two pieces of candy to put in their bags as they went by.
In fact, I barely had enough time to make eye contact at times due to the nonstop, steady flow of people stopping by our vehicle.
We were with our Pastor Wayne Cannon, who was greeting the crowd as they stopped by the vehicle for Misfits for Jesus.
Between the two vehicles, easily more than $230 in candy was distributed to the public.
When I noticed that we were nearly out just before 6 p.m. and seeing a long line still existing around the square, I went an bought another $35 in candy to help us get through the final wave of trick or treaters so no youngsters would be left disappointed.
This is definitely an event the City of Mountain Grove should be proud of hosting.
And knowing the perseverance and financial commitment our two vehicles of volunteers exerted, I want to also commend all of the other vendors for the time, money and effort they put into the event.
Trunk or Treat in Mountain Grove was yet again a fantastic event.
Here’s hoping even more vendors sign up in 2021 to make it an even bigger success.
