Many treats found along beach trail

If you went into the woods Oct. 24 at Oconto Falls’ West Side Beach, you were in for more than one surprise at the community held its sixth annual Trick or Treat Trail.

A spooky DJ kept the music flowing at the beach as hundreds of people walked into the woods and got some goodies from more than two dozen businesses, individuals and organizations. For those who had to park far away from the beach, Riverwood Saloon and Campground provide a bus to haul all the ghouls, witches and monsters — along with their loving parents — to the trail.

Along the trail were painted monster rocks that provided the children who collected them special treats. Iverson’s Piggly Wiggly donated pumpkins for the trail, and for those who wanted more than candy and other sweets, the picnic shelter had plenty of pulled pork sandwiches, homemade macaroni and cheese, walking tacos and hot dogs for families to enjoy.

Among those bedeviling the trail was Dave Wagner, an Oconto Falls resident who has participated in the Trick or Treat Trail with his wife since it first began. Wagner dressed up as a pirate this year, with treasure chests, skeleton crew members and even a one-eyed parrot setting the scene as he tried to get children to volunteer to be part of his crew.

“I’m part of the Witch Next Door crew that helps to set up the decorations,” Wagner said. “Last year, I was a gravedigger, so I had the grave down there.”

He said the pirate costume “spoke to me” when deciding what to dress up as.

“It’s just fun,” Wagner said. “We’ve done haunted trails for a long, long time — the Children’s Museum in Wausau, a pumpkin place over by Edgar that had a trail set up like this. We’ve been doing this for, I don’t know, 15 years or more.”

Wagner loves Halloween, especially for the props.

“I’m a big prop fan,” he said.

Some of the groups were participating to not only interact with the children but also to promote safety as the actual Halloween trick-or-treating is at hand. Mary Rosener and Beth Early with Safe Kids Oconto County were on the trail encouraging children to have fun but not to let things go too far.

“We couldn’t ask for a more beautiful day today,” Rosener said. “Today we’re promoting being visible when they’re out on Halloween around dusk time. We have reflective bands that we’re giving them, so they can use them over and over. We’re trying to prevent unintentional injuries among children if there’s ways they can be prevented.”

This is the second year that Safe Kids has participated in the Halloween activity.

To keep folks safe, the Oconto Falls Police Department had officers on hand in case witches tried to eat the children or werewolves tried to scare unsuspecting parents and cause them to trip and fall.

“Plenty of kids showing up, happy kids,” said Officer Spencer Russ. “We’re just on patrol today and were able to stop by. We just like to see the kids happy and having fun.”