What will Halloween look like in 2020?
For more than a decade, families in Middlebury have looked forward to Spooktacular, a downtown festival with costumes, games and a trick-or-treating parade, usually held the Sunday before Halloween.
We can’t gather that way this year because of the pandemic. But that doesn’t mean we should give up our dreams of a community celebration.
Here’s what the Better Middlebury Partnership is working on, according to Karen Duguay:
Instead of making trick-or-treating one more thing lost in 2020, let’s rally together and make it really special for our local kids and families! The BMP is hosting Drive-Thru Trick-or-Treating with spots around town to drive in, collect pre-bagged candy, and move along to the next spot. We have visions of each spot being decked out in a theme with music, costumes and props galore to make it all really fun and festive.
But, we need your help. 
Here’s what we are looking for: 
•  Businesses and/or organizations who want to run a station. This entails coming up with a theme, decorations and volunteers. BMP will supply the candy and the location. You can and are encouraged to team up with as many different groups as you’d like in order to spread out any decor or costume costs. You are also encouraged to put signage up for families to see that lets them know what business/organization has done that station. We’re working on details but we might be able to offer prizes to some of the most creative among us. 
•  Individual volunteers who want to help out at a station, bagging candy in advance or help with the planning. We’ll create a list of interested people and I’ll send emails out with what tasks need to happen when, so you can decide when and how much you can help. 
•  Candy! If you buy candy for trick-or-treaters every year, please consider a donation to the BMP this year to purchase candy for the masses. Checks can go to P.O. Box 853, Middlebury, VT 05753 or on PayPal at tinyurl.com/y6atfgem.
•  Sponsors… BMP needs an underwriting sponsor to help cover the costs of this event, including promotion and marketing. If you are interested, get in touch and we’ll chat about the cost and benefits to the business! 
•  Eventually, we will be looking for things like corn stalks, pumpkins/jack-o-lanterns, hay bales, costumes and accessories, etc. Stay tuned! 
Reach out to [email protected] if you are interested.