The Fox Elementary School parking lot was filled last week with children dressed in a variety of costumes, ranging from rubber ducks to Legos to characters from the popular Netflix movie “KPop Demon Hunters.”
More than 2,000 people attended the Arnold Chamber of Commerce’s trunk or treat and food drive held on Oct. 24 at the school in Arnold, chamber executive director Courtney Sokolis said.
At the event, 29 businesses and organizations handed out treats to children. In addition, the chamber collected enough nonperishable food items to fill approximately half of the Gateway Food Pantry’s collection van, Sokolis said.
She said the chamber also collected monetary donations for the pantry, but on Monday, at Leader deadline, she did not know how much money had been donated.
“There was a good balance of food and monetary donations,” she said. “I was very happy with the increase in donations this year.”
Unrivaled Realty took home the prize for best decorated space. Brad Cary owns the Arnold real estate company, which decorated with a “Jurassic Park” theme, complete with a “stone” archway leading to a dinosaur head that popped out of the back of a van.
Sokolis said children and adults voted to choose the best decorations, and the winner took home a trophy.
“It turned out really nice,” she said of Unrivaled Realty’s space. “Somone took a picture of a little kid with his head inside the T-Rex’s mouth. It was super cute.”
Sokolis said State Farm Insurance agent Donna Young and Sulhorst Lawns shared second place in the contest.
“The State Farm group was giving out rubber ducks from a duck pond,” she said. “Sulhorst Lawns was the ‘Monsters Inc.’ (movie) trunk.”
Sokolis said she loved the various costumes people wore at the event.
“I was shocked that we had a lot of people dressed as rubber ducks and ducklings this year,” she said. “‘KPop’ was a huge one, and there were so many little kids dressed as Legos. The homemade Lego costumes were fun.
“Everybody was really creative and had a good time.”
Sokolis said a number of people shared positive feedback about the event, adding that she was pleased to hear two dads say they were happy to have a safe place to take their children trick-or-treating.
“They loved the idea of having so many trunks in a row and in one place,” she said.
Due to the large number of attendees, they had to wait a while to get to the trunk-or-treat area, Sokolis said, but the line moved fairly quickly, and she believed everyone found ways to remain entertained.
“We had pretty long wait times in the past, but we managed to cut that wait time down to about 30 minutes (this year),” she said. “We have plans for next year to possibly cut that wait time down further.
“Even the people who had to wait, they were not unhappy. We checked in with everyone, and the DJ was playing the fun Halloween music, so the kids were dancing while waiting in line. We try to keep everyone entertained while they are waiting.”
Sokolis also said the children enjoyed exploring the Rock Community Fire Protection District’s firetruck and Rock Township Ambulance District’s ambulance. She said Arnold Police were unable to make this year’s event.
“The kids loved being able to climb on the firetruck,” she said. “We thank our first responders for always bringing out equipment. It always makes the event exciting for the kids.”
Sokolis said on Monday that she did not know how much money the event raised for the chamber, but the group is looking forward to holding the trunk-or-treat event again next year.
“I thank everyone who came out and set up a trunk to make this event possible. Without them, it just doesn’t happen,” she said. “I also thank everyone in the community who come out and support us year after year.”
Click to see more pictures from the event:
