First Annual Dayton Trunk-Or-Treat A Hit

DAYTON - Two local churches worked together to create a safe trick-or-treating environment for local kids on Wednesday, pioneering trunk- or-treat and sparking a tradi­tion two local pastors hope to continue and grow.

Pastors Marj Johnston of Dayton's First Congre­gational Church and Bill Peck of Dayton's United Methodist Church had a serendipitous moment when both were inspired to put a trunk-or-treat day together. They were greeted with the sweet taste of success when the event was well-attended last Wednesday.

Trunk-or-Treating is an event that creates a safe envi­ronment for kids who want to go out trick-or-treating, but might not live in a safe neigh­borhood, Johnston said.

"In bigger cities in par­ticular, it's a way to keep kids from going door to door in unsafe neighborhoods," John­ston said.

In Dayton, trunk-or-treat­ing ended up being five cars from the United Methodist Church and two from the First Congregational Church, deco­rated for kids and families to visit while volunteers handed out candy.

The cars all had different decorations, including tall, dried sunflowers, pumpkins and spider-infested netting to keep the event themed without being too scary.

Peck said he got the idea at a conference and thought the event would be more suc­cessful if his congregation paired up with Johnston's. When he called Johnston, she had already sent out an e-mail to her parish about possibly putting the same kind of event together.

"We both kind of had the same idea," Johnston said.

Peck said he was happy to join forces with the First Con­gregational Church because the event would not have been as successful if either church had organized the event alone.

"(The two churches) get along really well together," Peck said. "If we had done (the event) individually, we would have failed."

Together, the event at­tracted between 150 and 200 kids, Peck said, which he said was a fantastic result.

Johnston said she was pleased with how successful the first-time trunk-or-treat was and that both congrega­tions intend to participate again next year.

"The thing that really im­pressed me was the kids were really polite," Peck said.