Ashton's Main Street bustles during Trick-or-Trunk Street Party

By Witch Hazel

Cold, dry weather and enthusiasm for having a good time made the Trick-or-Trunk Street Party in Ashton Halloween night a monstrous success.

"Most were decorated spookalicious," said organization committee member Kim Steinman, who gave prizes to the top three car trunks entered in the trunk decorating contest. She said it was hard to judge who had the best decorations. There were creepy spiders, arms unattached to their bodies, graveyards, fire flames, coffins with only arms sticking out to give candy away to passersby

In addition to the getting treats from trunks, party goers were treated to a real Spook House. Leah Anderson and AJ Armstrong of the North Fremont Student council, organizers of the Spook House out of the ag building, said they came out ahead on what it cost to run the event. They plan on making it even scarier next year. Reports from children about the spook house ranged from "very scary" to "it didn't scare me," depending on the height of the costumed character reporting their findings. Still, many kids went through more than once and there was a constant line to get inside.

Also featured was Main Street merchant Vicki Wahrenboch of Just Your Pace, who decorated fingernails with spooky stickers. Tony Grider, photography instructor at North Fremont High, set up shop in the Pace building to take photos with a spooky backdrop. What a deal! Those hungry for something other than candy, were treated to huge baked spuds with butter and sour cream, from Delores and Huish Lenz of Lenz Electronics. Ann Oldam sold her delicious baked goods, from halloween cookies to candied apples. Yummy! The Ashton Fire Department and Ambulance were also on-hand to tend the fire for warming toes in the empty lot next to City Drug. Now those fireman were really sporting original costumes.

The Red Hat Society judged the costumes. Red Hatter JoAnn Richards said the event was wonderful but the challenge of selecting just a few winners was too much, so if you were a kid you probably got a ribbon for doing so along with "thanks" for dressing up.

"The dentist was scary enough to frighten us all to death" said JoAnn. Only the toothbrushes, instead of candy, hinted at who was under that werewolf mask.

A big thank you to everyone who helped and to Mother Nature, who treated us all to great weather. Thanks to Tom Mattingly and the city crews for designating main street as Ashton's party spot and the City of Ashton for sponsoring the event. Thanks to all the main street merchants for participating, Fisher Logging for letting us torch their empty lot, the fire crews for keeping us from torching the entire town, the ambulance, all the decorated trunkers, everyone who dressed up, North Fremont Student Council, Monnie Harringfeld, Rosell Baum, Stacey Steel, Kim Steinman, Vicki Robinson, Delores Lenz, Letha Whitmeore, Kim Wahrenboch and our fearless leader, Trenna Howell. And, if we forgot to thank anyone — oh well, guess we're hexed till next year. See you there!