By May Soricelli
The Surveyor

This Halloween, Berthoud’s trick-or-treaters are invited to Mountain Avenue for the first Treat-On-The-Street carnival, sponsored by Grace Place Church.

Families looking for a safe, fun alternative to door-to-door trick or treating and will find games, fun, and a lot of candy in downtown Berthoud this year. This will be Grace Place’s first Halloween event for the Berthoud community.

In years past the church has provided what it calls a “Trunk-or-Treat” where they hosted trick-or-treating in the church’s parking lot. This year’s expansion to include businesses in the event provides more active involvement from Berthoud locals.

“This year we wanted to involve more of the community and make it bigger for the kids,” said Bekkie Messenger, event coordinator. As many as 150 to 200 children have attended in previous years. This year, with the addition of the downtown carnival organizers expect closer to 300.

The “Candyland” themed festivity is on Oct. 31 from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Festivities start at the skate park on Mountain Avenue in Berthoud at 4 p.m. A booth will be set up at the skate park where families will be given a map of the participating businesses and a game piece to fill up with stickers from each stop. From there, children will travel down one side of Mountain Avenue where they will receive stickers and treats from business owners, to Fickel Park, and then back up the other side of the street, ending at Grace Place.

All along Mountain Avenue volunteers will hand out additional candy and there will be bonus booths along the street where children can get tickets for drawings to take back to Grace Place and be entered to win prizes such as an iPad Mini. Businesses will hand out other goodies as well, such as warm apple cider. In total there will be 19 carnival participants handing out candy, including businesses, booths, and individuals along Mountain Avenue. Participating businesses that are not located in the downtown segment will have booths at Fickel Park to keep all the activity close together. An important note is that street traffic will not be blocked off during the event and families are encouraged to use caution; however, crossing guards will be in place to assist.

The next part of the event will take place at Grace Place where families can have dinner provided, attend an indoor carnival, and participate in a safe trick-or-treat function, called “Trunk-or-Treat”. Dinner in the Trailhead Cafe will be provided for the community and a festive meal will be served at 5:30 p.m.

The portion of the carnival is 5 to 7 p.m. in the sanctuary of the church. Children will enjoy all varieties of booths and games with a cakewalk in the center of the room, and even a costume contest.

Trunk-or-Treat is an additional activity included in Treat on the Street that the church has been hosting for many years. This will take place at the same time as the Carnival and will be held in the parking lot behind the church, which will be blocked off for pedestrian traffic only. Volunteers in costume will line the lot with their cars which will have decorated trunks where they will hand out candy. The best “Candyland” themed trunk will win a prize at the end of the evening.

”We wanted to provide a safe alternative for families and children because many families aren’t getting involved in Halloween because it is getting too scary for children,” said Messenger. “We want to let them know that the community and church support them and want to do something nice for families in Berthoud.”