The chilly evening was filled with warm smiles from Belmont residents who gathered together for Halloween treats and decorated car trunks at Twin Pines Park last week to start the Halloween festivities.
On Oct. 27, Belmont celebrated Trunk-or-Treat for the first time at Twin Pines Park, which provided a creative, safer twist on the popular known tradition of trick-or-treating. This community event brought together families, local businesses, organizations, and more to celebrate, promote, and enjoy the festive Halloween spirit.
For the event, 26 trunks were decorated with unique festive flairs and awaited participants, who were dominated by, but not limited to, young children. The venue was safeguarded by barricades, ensuring a safe space for attendees to roam freely without worry of moving vehicles.
“The whole idea to do trunk-or-treating was to engage the community. People look so grateful for hosting events like these, and it brings us joy to host,” said Michael Moran, the Recreation Supervisor for Youth & Teen Services and Special Events of Belmont.
Especially after the pandemic, Belmont has not seen many events like these.
“We haven’t had anything for the last few years due to COVID-19, so I wanted to come out and be amongst the community,” a first-year attendee, Liz Scully, from the San Mateo County Family Child Care Organization, said.
Likewise, another attendee, Bonney McKinney, a Peninsula Forest and Beach School worker, found pure delight in ‘trunk-or-treating’. McKinney expressed that she found the most joy in seeing all the creative costumes between young children and even teens.
On top of bringing joy, the event’s centralization provided efficiency to all participants.
“A reason why I enjoy ‘trunk-or-treating’ more than trick-or-treating is that it requires less getting up and down when handing out candy,” Scully said.
Children were able to visit all of the decorated trunks in a relatively short amount of time when compared to trick-or-treating. On top of that, the safety provided at the event addressed a paramount concern in parent discussions about Halloween.
“Going from house to house, you don’t know what’s going to happen when you open the door, and here children can be right next to their parents. This is definitely a way safer option,” McKinney said.
Something tailored to only Trunk-or-Treat is that the Belmont Police Department brought their dogs, which sniffed all the cars to make sure there wasn’t anything hazardous at the event.
Last year’s Trunk-or-Treat event at Barrett Community Center in addition to this year’s turnout at Twin Pines Park has influenced Moran’s hopes to expand and further improve Trunk-or-Treat in the future.
“Everything we do is to enhance the quality of life in our community in Belmont. Whatever we can enhance, we try our best to,” Moran said.
