Lincoln Park District Halloween FunFest serves a twisted trick or treat for area children

[October 29, 2019]   LINCOLN - As darkness fell upon the city, the ghosts and ghoulies came out to play on Thursday evening. And where better to gather than the Lincoln Park District, a place where play is the name of the game for young and old alike?

The annual Halloween FunFest at the Park District saw hundreds of children with their parents or other adult family members going from booth to booth collecting treats for tricks.

The premise of Trick or Treat is that children go out on Halloween night and knock on doors seeking sweet treats. If the treat is not delivered promptly, then a ‘trick’ is delivered upon the home.

However, at the park district the practice is twisted just a bit. Instead of tricking for a lack of treats, kids were expected to perform tricks in order to earn treats. All around the indoor tennis court at the recreational center, tables were set up with various games. Children played the game and earned a treat from the bowls filled with candy.

Most of the games centered around the ring toss concept, with games such as tossing the rings onto the legs of the spiders. Other games were adapted forms of bag games, where kids threw something through the hole on a large board. The most fun of those games might have been the toilet paper toss where the roll of paper went flying from the kids’ hands into the toilet seats on the large board.

The Logan County Paramedics had a new game this year, a touch and feel game where kids put their hand inside a black box and tried to identify the “bone” in the box.

There was also the ever popular key search by the Logan County Crime Stoppers. In this game, the kids dig through the sawdust in a coffin full of bones. They find a key then move over to the large treasure trunk to see if their key will unlock the lid. If it does, they have their choice of prizes stashed inside.

Feeding eyeballs to the large green monster was a returning game again this year, as was the costume judging.

New this year was a Spider Web Selfie Wall, where everyone could use their cell phones to take pictures of themselves or many of the parents used the wall to take nice shots of their kids all dressed up for Halloween.

The crowds came early this year and at every table, there were lines of kids waiting their turn to perform a trick and receive a treat.

And of course, no one walked away empty handed. Even if the children didn’t make the target, land a ring on the spider leg, or knock down all the candy corn in the candy bowling, they still got a treat from the table.

In addition to all that, Park District staff were on hand at the door and everyone got a treat bag as they came in for the evening.

Once again this year, it was a great evening of safe trick or treating for area children and a wonderful time for family.

[Nila Smith]