About 1,000 trick-or-treaters lined Main Street in Festus and Bailey Road in Crystal City for the Twin City Area Chamber of Commerce’s annual Halloween event on Oct. 25.
With hot rods from Relaxed Atmosphere Car Club joining in this year, the event was renamed the Hot Rod Spooktacular.
Denise Kist, the chamber’s assistant director, said despite the chance of rain that morning, the turnout was great.
“The streets were full,” she said. “People came out in full force. It was good to see Main Street full.”
Kist said she saw a lot of cute costumes at the event, adding that many parents thought outside of the box and didn’t just get store-bought costumes for their kids.
“They were over-the-top amazing,” she said.
Kist said the hot rods brought in extra excitement for the event, and car club members collected donations for the Ozark Food Pantry in Festus.
Matt Jones of Relaxed Atmosphere Car Club said the group had about a dozen decorated vehicles lining the street.
“We collected a pickup truck bed full of canned goods and various things like packages of noodles,” he said. “It was a pretty good day. We took that straight over to the Ozark Food Pantry (that afternoon).”
The annual costume contest was held in front of Cobblestone Art & Frame Shop, 109 Main St., with prizes awarded for the top three winners in different categories.
The Lampert family of De Soto won the family costume contest. Kristina and James and their children, Auggie, 11; Knox, 9; and Brae, 6, dressed as Little Debbie snacks. Second-place winners were WWE Wrestlers Jesse and Ciara Tihen of Festus with their 2-year-old son, Grayson. Coming in third was the Otis family with Angela of Cedar Hill as Little Bo Peep and Sydney, 5, as Jess from “Toy Story.”
In the children’s 3 and younger category, Graham Barley, 7 months, of Festus placed first with his raccoon in the trash costume. Kennedy Roland, 2, of De Soto earned second place with a Costco costume. Nolan Meyer, 2, of Pevely won third place as a train conductor.
In the 4-6-year-old category, first place went to Henry Wilson, 5, of Festus as a beekeeper and his dog, Troy, as a bee. Colson Fox, 4, of Festus placed second as a John Deere tractor. Miles McNeel, 4, of Festus won third place as villain Doc Ock.
Winners in the 7-10-year-old category were Austin Stuckey, 10, of De Soto, who took first place as a baseball trophy; Jack Carter, 9, of Festus, who placed second as Gene Simmons; and Alice Herman, 7, of Desloge won third place as an angel in the clouds.
The streets were closed for the popular community event, which had many businesses and organizations handing out treats. Some set up tents and booths along the street to give out candy.
Click to see more pictures from the event:
