Trick or Treat on Main Street drew a large crowd and was a big success, organizers said.
The event, held Saturday morning in Festus, “went exceptionally well,” said Tonda Breeze, executive director of the Twin City Area Chamber of Commerce, which sponsored the event for the first time this year.
The event used to be called the Great Pumpkin Festival and previously was run by the Historic Tanglefoot Association.
For the event, businesses, churches and other organizations along Festus Main Street and Bailey Road in Crystal City offered treats to children who showed up in Halloween costumes.
“I can’t give you an estimate on how many people showed up, but when I would walk up to the top of Main Street and look in both directions, there was a sea of people,” Breeze said.
The chamber sponsored costume contests for three age groups of children as well as a family category.
“I’d say we had 30 to 40 entries in each group,” Breeze said. “There were some hard decisions to make (to judge the contests). And a lot of the businesses went a step beyond giving out candy; they had characters or set up games in front of their doors.”
Breeze said she anticipates the chamber will continue to sponsor the event.
“This is definitely a do-again; that’s for certain,” she said.