Shadyside getting into the spooky season spirit
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SHADYSIDE -- As the school season is back in session, the village has Halloween on its mind.
Trick-or-Treat in the village of Shadyside will be on Oct. 29 from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
During council's regularly scheduled meeting Monday evening, council member Melanie Haswell made a motion for Trick-or-Treat to be on Thursday, Oct. 29, instead of Halloween.
Council all agreed to Haswell's motion before Mayor Mike Meintel said that this year's Trick-or-Treat will be rain or shine with no rain date.
Resident and Leona Middle School teacher Nikki Butts then spoke during the meeting’s open public forum.
She asked council if it could temporarily close down the Loop's northbound lane on Oct. 30 from 8 to 10 a.m. for Leona Middle School and Jefferson Elementary School's joint Trunk-or-Treat event.
"We had one was at Jefferson and one at Leona but it was just way too hard on parents because so many of our parents have kids at both schools. So last year we decided to combine it. We had almost 80 cars set up for the Trunk-or-Treat from pre-K to sixth grade. Parents and the students loved it. We got so many compliments on it, it was great," Butts said. "The only complaint people had was it was really hard for the kids. We moved it down to the ball fields and it was hard for the kids to walk around through the gravel, especially the preschool kids. It was just a mess."
She added that after last year the two schools discussed the possibility of moving the event to the village's historic loop.
Butts said that she counted the parking spaces from the former Dairy Queen to Hometown Roots Beauty Salon and there are roughly 45 parking spots.
"We thought if we shut down from Dairy Queen to Hometown Roots on Friday, we could line cars up on both sides. It would fit about 80," Butts said. "We kind of have a plan in our heads already with how we would bus Jefferson students down vs. Leona would just be able to walk down. I know that it’s a big ask to shut down the loop but we just thought that most people would probably be at work by that point, and they could just venture around if anybody is coming into town or out of town during that two-hour span."
She added that the event would start lining cars up at 8 a.m. with the children beginning at 8:20 a.m. until 10 a.m., which will be the same time the cars pack up and leave.
Butts said that with the students from Leona walking from the school to the loop and the students from Jefferson being bused to it, that would save time and the event probably wouldn't even last until 10 a.m.
Meintel replied that if council agrees, the village could park two dump trucks at each end of the loop that will be closed during the event.
He then asked Butts if anyone could sign up for their car to participate.
"Last year what we did was we sent a flyer home with every kid, and parents could sign up. I also reached out to businesses in town so that the businesses in town can actually participate too," Butts said.
Meintel asked Butts if the event is allowed if she could give a flyer to his office so that he could enter his vehicle into the Trunk-or-Treat.
Haswell then made a motion to allow for Leona Middle School and Jefferson Elementary School's joint Trunk-or-Treat event to be on the northbound lane of the loop on Oct. 30 from 8:30 to 10 a.m., which was approved.