Seeley-Swan High School hosts Trunk or Treat and Halloween carnival, and other area festivities

Members of the community gathered at Seeley-Swan High School to celebrate Halloween. Businesses and families were represented at Trunk or Treat as they handed out candy and a carnival put on by the high school drama elective was a change from last year's haunted house.

While Trunk or Treat usually takes place in the parking lot of Seeley Lake Elementary School, this year it was hosted at the high school.

Seeley-Swan High School drama teacher Katy Pellet said this was so Trunk or Treat could be paired with the carnival.

"It's easier to move trunks than to move all of this," she said, referring to the carnival setup.

The carnival was hosted in the high school gymnasium, and it included a variety of ways for people to celebrate. Attendees could participate in various activities and games, watch Hocus Pocus as it was being projected onto the gymnasium stage and indulge in sweet treats.

Roger Sanford was selling cookies that had been baked by Laura Sanford as part of a bake sale. Members of the high school drama elective were also serving hot cocoa and hosting a station where people could decorate cookies.

Carnival attendees could participate in a Halloween-themed ring toss for the chance to pick out a sticker. They could also pop a balloon, participate in a mini witch hunt, create their own design on a white mask, get their face painted and get a tarot card reading.

Members of the high school drama elective were responsible for the tables and activities at the carnival. Last year drama students hosted a haunted house in the gym, but this year they wanted to create a more inclusive Halloween celebration for the community.

Setting up in the high school gym gave students the chance to focus on their work at the carnival without having to worry about things like transportation.

"My drama team did a fantastic job," Pellet said.

The spooky season came over Ovando in seemingly moments - moments that displayed hours of work behind the scenes. After school the kids met in the Ovando gym for dinner with spider hot dogs, chili, web cookies and bony snacks. The annual mummy contest attracted three teams who raced to cover one team member head to toe using only one roll of toilet paper.

After the dinner and games, the kids and their families canvassed the town for trick or treating.

One house was filled with ghouls, zombies, witches and all manner of Halloweenery. Twelve local adults dressed up and placed themselves among the trees in the "Haunted Forest." Creepy sounds, ghostly figures suspended from trees and lit up against the house wall and illuminated bubbling cauldrons were arrayed through the forest with costumed figures groaning, popping out or feigning zombification, all for the Halloween fun of the community.