The Dads of Castle Rock hosted their third annual Trunk or Treat on October 30, 2022, from 5pm to 9pm at the Castle View High School east parking lot. 65 families and seven vendors volunteered to decorate their trunks to hand out candy to the trick or treaters, including three large bounce houses donated from Craig Kingrey, a Dads of Castle Rock member and owner of Air Bounce Colorado. There was estimated to be between 6,000 to 7,000 participate this year, coming close to doubling the amount of people who participated in 2021.
At one point, the line to get to the trunks wrapped around the east, west, and halfway up the south side of the school and doubling back. One family said they waited two hours to get in, and it took another hour where the trunks were set up.
“The wait was long, but we didn’t mind,” one family said. “We all had a lot of fun being with other families who were there who just wanted to get dressed up, be with their families, and have fun.”
This year brought even more elaborate costumes, including a realistic rendering of the grim ripper who prowled the crowd, and a mobile haunted house with smoke machines, monsters, strobe lights, and jump scares around each corner built and operated by a Castle Rock family.
“We didn’t expect to have this many people come out,” said Chris Berens, the Dads of Castle Rock Benevolence Officer. Chris continued, “I’m glad we were able to provide a safe and fun environment for the kids to go trick or treating.”
Several families who have sensory sensitive family members said that the first hour designed for them was difficult to navigate because the crowd was already big and loud during the quiet hour. Tanner Cole, the DoCR Director or Events said, “they are going to work hard on ensuring the quiet hour is handled better next year for our sensory sensitive families so they can have the opportunity to enjoy our events as well.”
The Dads of Castle Rock planning committee said they know next year is going to be bigger in nearly every way, and we want everyone to spend their time actually enjoying the event, not waiting in line most of the time. We’ve gotten better every year in every way, and next year will be even bigger and better.
