SPOOKY HALLOWEEN
TRAIL WALK

NICER hosted the 2nd annual Spooky Halloween Trail Walk on Saturday, October 24th, from 4:30-5:30 pm, at the Hurley School. What would have been a spooky walk through the Hurley School Adventure Trails was modified to a drive thru format, due to inclement weather and the rise in COVID-19 cases in the community.

With so many local events being canceled over the past 6 months, NICER cautiously, began planning this year's walk in August. Members of the Spooky Trail planning group spoke with the Iron County Health Department and Hurley School District about how to make this event fun and safe for everyone during the pandemic. Plans included hand sanitizer stations set up at the entrance and exit of the trail, masks required for all volunteers and participants, and prepackaged goodie bags. There were also going to be two trail options. One for youth under the age of 10 and the other, scarier option for youth 10 and up.

"The Spooky Trail planning group felt confident in the safety measures that we planned to implement during the walk, but decided it would be in our best interest to change to a drive thru format" states Rebecca Holm, one of the Spooky Trail planning group coordinators, "The health and safety of our community is our main concern. We were nervous about how it would all work out, but our amazing volunteers stepped up and made the best out of the situation."

The group's nervousness turned into excitement when cars began lining up in the Hurley School entrance prior to the 4:30 start time. Volunteers set up themed costume stations along the school drive way and parking lots and interacted with the families as the 80+ cars drove through. Each child received a prepackaged goody bag and the 30th car to drive through received a gift basket. A suggested $5 donation was requested per car, with all proceeds being used on future community projects identified by NICER.

NICER is already discussing next year's event with hopes that it will be bigger and better than ever!