Though the first Halloween Trunk or Treat event hosted by Detroit Lakes' Zion Lutheran Church seven years ago exceeded expectations — with between 500-600 kids showing up rather than the anticipated 300 — that amazing inaugural turnout was eclipsed by the numbers seen this Sunday, Oct. 31, when more than 1,000 costumed kids showed up to collect all the tasty treats, toys and other gifts handed out during the two-hour event.
"We didn't really keep track (of numbers)," said Guy Roberts, senior pastor of Zion Lutheran. "But one of our volunteers said they gave away all 1,000 pencils they had — with one pencil per kid — and there were more than 800 tacos served."
Roberts noted that Zion Lutheran members — and La Barista owners — Brooke and Courtney Wenzel had not only sponsored a taco-themed "trunk" for this year's event, but they also brought their Epic Taco food truck along and handed out free tacos to all participants, regardless of whether they came in costume or not.
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"That was very generous of them," he added.
The Wenzels took one of the "best trunk" prizes home for their efforts, added Katelyn Haarstick, the church's family life coordinator. "We had three prizes, for spookiest, tastiest and best designed — they were voted the tastiest."
The other prizes went to a Jurassic Park-themed entry, for "spookiest," and a Cookie Monster-themed trunk for best designed.
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"It really looked like the Cookie Monster," Haarstick said of the latter entry. The judging was done by a "secret" panel of three judges, who quietly made their rounds to check out all 27 trunks included in the event.
"We had a few 'firsts' this year," said Askelson, noting that the church had opted not to serve their usual ham-and-cheese sandwiches due to the addition of the taco truck to this year's lineup, and they also invited local businesses to contribute "trunks" for the first time, instead of just including church members.
"It started when Mahube (Otwa) called us and asked if they could have a trunk there," said Sally Askelson, who co-chaired the planning for this year's Trunk or Treat, along with Amanda Sieve.
Haarstick noted that other businesses and organizations sponsoring trunks for this year included the aforementioned La Barista as well as Snappy Company, Health Resources, Hospice of the Red River Valley and the Detroit Lakes Fire Department — though the firefighters had brought their fire trucks to the event before, Roberts added.
Askelson said that they had planned for big numbers, due to the fact that this year's event was held on Halloween, instead of the Sunday preceding it (as had been the case for previous Trunk or Treat events).
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Nevertheless, they barely had enough candy to satisfy all the hungry trick-or-treaters, Roberts noted.
"We had one small bag (of candy) left at the end," Haarstick said. "But we didn't run out."
All in all, organizers were quite happy with the event turnout, and how it went overall.
"A lot of the comments I heard were about how it was great not to have to go from house to house, all over the place, and they still covered a lot of ground," Askelson said, adding that a lot of homes around the church saw large numbers of trick-or-treaters as well.
"It was a safe, fun place for families to go," Haarstick added.
