Halloween is not until next Tuesday, but Dade celebrates the holiday in a big way the weekend before with Trick or Treat Alley. The annual bash on the Trenton town square, cosponsored by the Dade Chamber of Commerce and Dade Public Library, brings in thousands of area children for free festivities and candy distributed by local businesses and civic organizations. It is slated to start at 5:30 on Saturday.
The party grows larger every year, and this 2017 avatar includes a “Children of the Corn” children’s scarecrow costume competition as well as a “Zombie Walk.” The scarecrow costume contest is open to kids from babies up to 10 years old, and there will be first, second and third-place prizes, to be awarded at some point during the Trick or Treat festivities from 5:30-8 p.m.
The Chamber’s Zombie Walk starts from the square at 8:30 p.m. and is a paid event—$5 buys one adult and a child a right to stagger deadly along in the promenade. Or you can pay $10 and have your decaying-corpse face done at the Chamber’s makeup booth. The C of C is also hawking “The Walking Dade” T-shirts and offering package deals for shirts, makeup and walk. If interested, readers may call the Chamber at (706) 657-4488.
The Dade County Public Library’s festivities are all free. The library will be decorated with an Alice in Wonderland motif and kids will be offered a tour through Lewis Carroll’s fantasy world with trick-or-treat opportunities along the way. Featured are stops at the rabbit hole, the Mad Hatter’s tea party and the court of the Red Queen.
The Red Queen is famous for shouting, “Off with their heads,” but it is another tempestuous anti-heroine who threatens Saturday’s activities most: Mother Nature. The unpredictable old broad is threatening rain for Saturday, which could put a serious crimp in Trick or Treat Alley’s style.
Library manager Marshana Sharp is unfazed: Wonderland is inside the library and will go forward rain or shine. But Cheryl Painter of the Chamber of Commerce is a little more worried. She says there’s no Plan B as yet but the Chamber is keeping its eye on the weather and will post advisories on its Facebook page if and when necessary. Here’s a link: https://www.facebook.com/dade.chamber.
Churches around Dade are also sponsoring other trick-or-treat or “trunk-or-treat” events—the expression comes from the practice of serving candy from the trunks of parked cars in parking lots—beginning this afternoon. Here are some of them, courtesy of Martha Baker at Dade FIRST:
Today, Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 6:30, Rising Fawn community churches, including Rising Fawn Church of God, Rising Fawn Methodist and Rising Fawn Baptist, will have trunk-or-treats at each church.
Also today, Wednesday, Oct. 25, at 6 p.m., Trenton United Methodist Church will host its Halloween trunk-or-treat.
New Home Baptist Church will have its trunk-or-treat on the actual Halloween night, Tuesday, Oct. 31 at 6 p.m.
Besides Halloween parties, also slated for Saturday is a fundraiser golf tournament to benefit cancer patient Karen Gass. It starts at 9 a.m. at Trenton Golf Club and costs $70 per person for a 4-man team. Prizes will given for first, second and third places. For more information or rain dates, readers may call Ethan Everett at (423) 827-9909.
Community events this weekend don’t stop on Saturday night. The sixth annual Trenton Police Dept. Toy and Silver Bell Ride will take place Sunday, Oct. 29. The event begins with lunch at noon on the Dade County High School football fields off Highway 136 East. This will feature hot dogs and chili from the cook-off by area volunteer fire departments. A motorcycle ride starts at 2 p.m.
Participants are invited to bring a toy, warm throw or other gift—the ride has historically been a benefit for local children and this year is expanded to aid area elderly as well. After the ride, at about 3 p.m., there will be a raffle for Officer Danny Ellis’s handcrafted wooden motorcycle rocking toy, door prizes and other activities.
(Photo: Local supermodel Eloise Gass poses on Danny Ellis's beautifully crafted rocking toy.)
For more information about the Toy/Silver Bell lunch and ride, readers may call Trenton City Hall at (706) 657-4167.
Comments