Local children, families and pets dress up for OPRD Trick-or-Treat
Plenty of families showed up for Oxford Parks and Recreation's annual Uptown Trick-or-Treating event.
As the work day drew to a close on Oct. 24, children and families flocked to the bricks of High Street with one common goal — getting as much candy as possible.
During the Uptown Trick-or-Treating event, put on by the Oxford Parks and Recreation Department, employees stood outside of local businesses handing out candy and other treats. Beyond collecting candy, kids also won prizes in games hosted by various organizations including the Miami University Athletic Department.
Mia Boule, a sophomore kinesiology major at Miami University, helped kids have fun with the activities set up in the Uptown parks.
“I’m running the games right now,” Boule said. “We just have a few little fun games the kids can do and they get candy.”
The game Boule ran involved tossing bean bags into cans in order to knock them down. Boule said she was surprised by the turnout and hadn’t expected so many kids to show up.
“I think just seeing all the costumes is super fun. I also really like the pets,” Boule said. “They have a pet contest here and I’m really looking forward to that.”
Caitlyn Tanner helped distribute candy outside of Skyline Chili. Tanner said that it had been busy, and they went through three bags of candy within half an hour.
It was Tanner’s first year participating, so while she didn’t have anything to compare it to, she said the turnout seemed great. Because of the high demand, she was only four pieces of candy away from needing to restock.
“[My favorite part is] definitely seeing the kids being happy and dressed up in their costumes,” Tanner said.
Children dressed up in a variety of different creative costumes to celebrate Halloween. Photos by Stella Powers
Casey Wooddell, director of the Parks and Recreation Department, said that this event had gone on for decades before he even held his position.
For Wooddell, a highlight of putting on this event is seeing all of the children get together with smiles on their faces. He also said the turnout was great, noting that the nice weather could have played a part in that.
“It’s just an opportunity to get people together for Halloween, and it’s kind of a collaboration between OPRD and the local businesses Uptown,” Wooddell said. “They’re doing trick-or-treat with all these businesses … Everything’s free. We don’t charge for any of it.”
In addition to the fan-favorite Trick-or-Treating, community members were invited to dress their pets in spooky, festive attire for a costume contest. At 6 p.m., the pet costumes were judged on three categories – cutest, scariest and most original.
Kids weren't the only ones in costume this year. Community members also dressed up their pets to participate in the pet costume contest. Photos by Stella Powers
Judged by a group of animals featuring Swoop the Redhawk, the winning pets got to choose from three baskets. A duo of dogs, called “pawtners in crime,” took home the prize for most original costume, a dog dressed as a shark was awarded scariest and the bride and groom bunnies won cutest costume.
Max Meyer brought his dog Truman to the event, entering him in the contest. Truman was dressed as a dragon.
After the pet costume contest, the kids started preparing for the Lions Club Halloween Parade. Children were instructed to line up based on age group to show off their costumes.
The parade was led by a fire truck and the participating children were instructed to line up by age group. Photos by Stella Powers
The parade kicked off with a fire truck leading the way, with a band and the dressed-up children following close behind.
10-year-old Lilly dressed up as Coraline for the event because she enjoys the movie. A highlight for her was the candy, with her especially enjoying sour candy.
“I’m enjoying the events and all the costumes and stuff,” Lilly said.
Lilly wasn’t the only one who was excited for the candy. Theo, a 7-year-old, was also a big fan of the candy and said Nerds are his favorite. Theo dressed as a Rubik’s cube because he thought it sounded like fun.
10-year-old James dressed as Ghostface for Halloween. He said that so far, he’ had had a lot of fun at the event.
“My favorite part was probably when we went over to Starbucks and they had these pup cups,” Jones said.
Taiki, a 6-year-old, dressed up as the pigeon from “Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus.” His full pigeon costume was accompanied by a steering wheel to finish it off.
Taiki had few words for his favorite part of the evening: “Candy … HI-CHEWs.”
