Whitney Recreation Committee hosts Halloween trick or treat event

By Mike Riley

The Whitney recreation committee hosted a candy bag trick or treat event for the local kids on Halloween night at the local rink, sponsored by South Algonquin Township. According to the recreation committee chairperson Joseph Avery, a few residents also chipped in to buy the candy for the event, and overall, it went ghoulishly well.

Avery says that it took about two hours or so to bag up all the candy, and committee members Orianna Jessup and Anne Craftchick were the ones who assembled the bags. He says they bought the candy over two weeks ago, so it had time to be isolated and deemed safe due to COVID-19, and all together there were 75 to 80 bags of candy ready for the kids on Halloween night.

“All of the candy was bought locally for the most part. A few things had to be ordered in specially in order to get what we wanted. Every bag also has a new toothbrush in them, which has been happening for the last eight years now,” he says.

On Halloween night, Avery and Jessup were on hand to give out the candy to the children at the township rink in Whitney. He says this is the second year of them doing it this way, so the kids have a safe way to trick or treat. From what Avery has heard, the local children are very happy that they are allowed to go trick or treating this year, albeit in a modified way.

“A lot of them were concerned they would not be able to this year, but they are very excited and cannot wait,” he says.

After the event on Nov. 1, Avery told Bancroft This Week that it all went really well, and they had 87 children come out.

“Everyone followed the rules and were respectful and only one family came in [to the rink building] at a time. And all the kids took one bag. It was a great turnout with lots of smiles.”