T-L Photo/JOSIE BURKHART Employees of the Comfort Inn in St. Clairsville are ready to hand out candy to children and dress up with the Halloween theme of their vehicles for the hotel’s first ever trunk or treat event in October.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Children can trick or treat while employees dressed in costumes hand out candy from their decorated car trunks to celebrate Halloween at the Comfort Inn next month.

The hotel’s first-ever trunk or treat event will be from 6-8 p.m. Oct. 26 at 52509 National Road East at the Comfort Inn in St. Clairsville in the back parking lot. It is a completely free event.

General Manager Andrea Millhouse said this event is aimed toward children but is still a family-friendly event. Trick-or-treating and games will take place in the parking lot while coloring books and games will be present inside the lobby.

Employees will decorate their vehicles with Halloween decor, dress up in costumes themed to their vehicles, and hand out candy to the children who attend. Children are also encouraged to wear their Halloween costumes.

“We are trying to get our name out there and be more community involved,” Millhouse said. “Not a lot of people know that we’re here. So, we are aiming to show everyone that we are here and that we want to be involved in the community, and we just want to have fun and give the community back a little bit of what it’s given to us.”

Sixteen employees will be in the parking lot with their vehicles decorated and trunks open, ready to distribute candy. Other local businesses are also setting up cars and participating in the event.

Millhouse is hopeful this will be an event that turns into an annual tradition for the hotel. She wants it to be exciting and something that people will look forward to.

“I’m mainly just hoping families will come and enjoy and just give them something nice to look forward to every year,” she said.

The Comfort Inn had an Easter party this past year where children participated in an Easter egg hunt. Millhouse said she is trying to start a few traditions and add more to Comfort Inn’s holiday lineup.

The idea came about when Millhouse and her staff wanted to do a Breakfast with Santa last year, but Santa dropped out. So, she and her staff talked about it and this came about for Halloween.

“The employees were talking about it, and it was kind of like a spur of the moment thing,” she said. “And we were like, ‘Hey, what if we do this?’ And everybody seemed to really like it. Our employees are very good at donating their time and setting it up to do that. They really enjoy it. So, we just kind of went with it, and it blew up. We’re hoping it stays that way.”