Candy, ghouls and costumes galore were the many scenes at Chadwick Lake as the Town of Newburgh celebrated its annual Trunk or Treat celebration this past Friday.

Unfortunately a year ago, the annual Halloween celebration was not possible due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. All such festivities had to be put on hold and had to wait till the following year to open. Now a year later, with coordination and proper planning by the Recreation Department, the event was on once again and drew in hundreds of residents. However, getting to the park was only half the experience. As cars arrived at the park, they made their way to the parking lots guided by officers and recreation department staff members. One by one, families would get out of their cars and line up, ready to go to the main area where the trunks were. There was a slight chill breeze in the air.

Children dressed up as ninjas, skeletons, princesses, Ghostbusters, and other crazy outfits along with their parents were waiting to start making their way to the candy. Even parents took in the fun as well with their children with one family dressing up as characters from the movie Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas and a mother as a painting with her son dressed up as famous painter Bob Ross.

The event officially started at six and the trunks were lined up along the lake side, finishing the last bits of preparation. Live music accompanied the families getting their candy. The families would make their way to each trunk, say hello to the trunk owners and collect candy, walking around in a giant loop before heading home. As the sun began to set, several spotlights provided visibility for the trunk or treaters as they made their rounds. The concept of Trunk-or-Treat is a simple one: you have the creative liberty to take your regular car trunk and transform it into the most spooky and entertaining set up for all to see, where parents and kids can take in the design and walk away with some candy.

Several of the trunks had a variety of themes such as Super Mario, Monsters Inc, killer clowns at a circus, Jurassic Park and other scary scenes. Park Commissioner Jim Presutti, dressed as a yellow bag of M&M’s, walked around handing out candy and saying hello to the residents as they made their way to the trunks. Seeing the event in full swing, he was so grateful for the turnout. “My staff did an excellent job putting this together,” Presutti said. “I’m just blown away by the amount of people.” Recreation Director Jason Szeli, also dressed up as a yellow bag of M&M’s echoed the words of Presutti, thanking everyone for coming that night.

“Happy faces, everyone back together again, it’s great,” Szeli said. “Thank you for coming out. This doesn’t happen without a great community and great families.” Karissa Arroyo, dressed as Luigi from the Mario franchise, was so happy to be back and this was her first participation in the Trunk-or-Treat. “This is my first time,” Arroyo said. “It’s amazing.” Lisa Vance-Ayers, also with her trunk setup, was glad to see the festivities in full swing. “I love Halloween,” Vance-Ayers said. “It’s my favorite time of the year.” Seeing the kids, the parents and the festivities all around, there was excitement and a sense of normalcy once again. Joseph Finnegan and his family, whose trunk was one of the first as you entered the event, was excited to be back and taking in the fun.

“It’s a great turnout,” Finnegan said. “We missed the Trunk-or-Treat last year, and glad to see it back again this year,”