Cars don spooky costumes for kids' Halloween event in Easthampton

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

EASTHAMPTON - Graves, candles, a headless butler and fog machines will transform a city parking lot into a scene right out of a horror movie Thursday, thanks to a handful of area residents who "spook up" their vehicles during the Northeast Center for Youth and Families' annual Trunk-or-Treat celebration.

The event's Halloween-themed cars, trucks and minivans also dished out goose bumps and candy to trick-or-treaters last year, said organizer Brenda Fondakowski, a staffer at the center.

"We all had a great time with this, not only while the Trunk-or-Treat event was taking place, but also through the preparation for it," Fondakowski said. "It was a lot of fun preparing and coming up with ideas to spook up the truck with things we thought the kids would enjoy."

Based in Easthampton, the Northeast Center for Youth and Families provides foster care, residential programs, in-home therapy, expressive arts therapy and after-school programming to more than 600 special needs children and teens every year.

Although last year's Trunk or Treat drew far more residents than she expected, Fondakowski said she expects even more this year because it is the first time the celebration will be open to the public.

"The agency is providing a safe way to bring the community together and it is really all about the kids having fun," Fondakowski said. "I hope this year's turnout is as good as last year's."

Residents interested in participating are invited to park in the center's East Street parking lot from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Admission is a bag of candy per child.

Kelly Beaulieu, who tricked out her sedan for last year's event, said the Trunk-or-Treat experience was just as fun her as it was for the trick-or-treaters.

"I hid behind my back seat last year and jumped out and screamed at them when they came for the candy," Beaulieu said.

"There was one woman who opened up her back seat so the kids could crawl through it, and most of us played spooky music in our cars. We just wanted to find a way to make Halloween fun for local kids and do something for the community that's a little fun and different."

Another NCYF employee who is spreading the word of last year's success is Kathleen Mahoney, who awarded trick-or-treaters with candy if they were brave enough to crawl through the back seat of her Buick.

"One of our managers decorated her trunk to look like a giant monster with its jaws hanging open, the maintenance guys built a miniature graveyard in the back of their pickup truck and our IT guys rigged together some electronics to have a ghoulish, moving, smoke-filled display," Mahoney said.

Part of the reason last year's celebration was so successful, Mahoney said, is that parents compete to outdo each other.

"Many of the kids in our residential program won't be able to go trick-or-treating on Halloween, so this is a chance for them to dress in costume and put on their most sincere faces while we dole out candy by the bagful," Mahoney said.

"It is really wonderful to see how engaging it is for the kids, to see how excited they are about the effort people put into their vehicles, and to see all of us grown-ups dressed up as silly as they are."

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.