Trunk-or-Treat sees hundreds

Ghouls, ghosts, monsters and even Paw Patrolers swarmed the 15th annual Norwood Trunk-or-Treat on Saturday.

The event is designed as a community get-together to not only have fun and introduce younger residents to trick-or-treating, but also as a way to give back to the community.

If you’re not aware, a trunk-or-treat event is when participants dress up their vehicles in a diorama of a particular Halloween theme, or just some general spookiness, and act as a miniature version of trick-or-treating. You go car-to-car instead of house-to-house.

Canned items and other shelf-stable foodstuffs were donated to the Norwood Ecumenical Food Pantry, collected during the event by the Norwood Recreation Department. More than 12 boxes of food were packed up and delivered to the pantry. Norwood Recreation Program Director Marie Kidd said they had more than 300 kids come through the event, and they cleared out the Recreation Trunk.

“We had two separate trunks that each brought 300 items (bubble wands and flyer with pop attached) and both of those trunks ran out around 11:30 a.m.,” she said. “They were pretty strict with the one-item-per-child policy.”

Norwood Recreation Director Sam White said during the event that he was happy with the turnout and the response from the community.

“It’s been going really smooth,” he said. “We have more than 20 trunks here this year and everyone is donating a good amount. We’re looking forward to giving back to the pantry and seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces.”

White said they had some new trunks this year, including a couple of Harry Potter-themed trunks.

“But the fan-favorite Ghost Busters is back,” he said. “And we also have the Norwood Women’s Community Committee here with their trunk, and more scattered throughout. Chick-Fil-A is also here too, with a Minecraft theme.”

Residents Kevin, Guisell and Andrew Smith said they came out with their kids for the Trunk to let them have a run-around and use any excuse to dress up. Kevin was dressed as King Arthur from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

“It’s just a great event, we come every year,” he said, adding that his daughter skipped her soccer game to be there. “She just loves it so much.”

“There’s a lot of creativity here,” Andrew Smith said.

“We’ve been here for years, and Norwood just keeps getting better and better,” Guisell said.

Kevin Smith said his daughter “double-dared” him to dress up.

“So, obviously, I had to do it,” he said with a laugh.

Gillooly Funeral Home representative Karissa Upton said the Funeral Home has been participating almost since the Trunk started.

“We get a good response from folks,” she said. “We always do the bigger candy bars, and I think people appreciate that. We always have a good turnout and so it’s really nice to see the kids.”

Resident Priscilla Olle said this was the first time she and her family brought her son out to the Trunk, and she said it was a great learning experience for him.

“We wanted to have fun with our one-and-a-half-year-old; it’s, we think, the first time he kind of understands the concept of trick-or-treating and we thought it would be fun,” she said. “It’s a well-organized event, people are really nice, and it’s pretty fun.”

One Local Bank VP of Community Relations was maintaining the rigging and sails on the company’s trunk, which was a pirate ship.

“We love doing this, supporting the community and having a good time,” she said. “This is our second year and we’ve got a pirate ship theme. All the kids are having a great time, we’ve got the same crowd as last year, and it’s just amazing.”