Guest Post: Manitowoc Public Library: Trunk or Treat Family Event!

Guest Post: Julia Lee, Youth Services Manager, Manitowoc Public Library

This past October, Manitowoc Public Library hosted our first-ever Trunk or Treat event! For those who might not know, the premise of a trunk or treat program is to provide a family trick-or-treat experience in a safe, public environment. We started by contacting local organizations in town, such as the Police, Fire Department, Head Start, volunteer organizations, etc. We also reached out to any Scouts or 4-H contacts. I was hoping for 10 organizations to participate our first year – we had 27!!! *HAPPY DANCE*

We held Trunk or Treat in our library parking lot on a Tuesday evening. We normally hold a Family Activity Night with solid participation numbers, so we held it as one of our Family Activity Night programs. Though the weather was unseasonably cold, we had over 1,000 people attend. All the organizations are interested in participating next year – we just need to use a bigger parking lot! Clean-up was a breeze – all the cars pulled out of the lot and drove away.

For those looking for ways to get connected, this was a fantastic community building event! As the event got closer, our Facebook page BLEW UP! While at first I estimated maybe 300 people would attend, we soon had over 1,000 people interested on our Facebook event. In the weeks leading up to Trunk or Treat, I had organizations calling and reaching out to us instead of the other way around, trying to see if they could still participate. Trunk or Treat was easy to plan (mostly just emailing my contacts on a regular basis and setting up an evite), simple to execute, and easy to clean-up.

Notes from the program: This year, I created a vendor map of the parking lot for my staff so we knew where to direct them when they arrived. Next year, I am planning to send the map out ahead of time to my organizations for a smoother check-in process. I also bought extra treats and candy to have on hand in case organizations ran out. This was a GREAT idea, as some organizations ran out of candy in the first 10 minutes of our hour-long program. They were grateful to have something to pass out!