Plains makes Halloween special for community

The spirit of Halloween was widespread in Plains this year from the Clark Fork Valley Hospital to Fred Young Park and by baby Ledger Erickson dressed as Elvis Presley to 65-year-old Kim Bay as a pirate skeleton.

Festivities began with the school's "Trunk or Treat" and from there spread to another old school, the 138-year-old one-room log schoolhouse run by the Plains Woman's Club, where Debbi Kirschbaum, dressed as a "dead bride," Janet Branden, LeAnn Hafner, and the club's new president, Jamie Schmidt, handed out candy to trick or treaters. Five churches - Assembly of God, Gospel Way, Harvest Community Church, Plains Alliance Church, and the Plains Bible Chapel - joined the festivities, but with an emphasis on the fall harvest.

For the fifth year, the Assembly of God's Church on the Move did their "Glow Night" and handed out grilled hot dogs and candy as part of the Kids Ministry Outreach, organized by Matt and Naomi Hitchcock. "We were just trying to shine the light of Jesus and not really celebrating Halloween," said church member Sydne Connolly, who added the group gave away 230 bags of candy and 220 hot dogs, along with cocoa, coffee, and Bibles. She estimated there were about 300 people.

"We wanted to give something different for the children and to share the love of a Jesus," said Kari Bauer, one of the coordinators of the Plains Alliance Church's Harvest Festival. The festival was a combination of games and treats in the church gymnasium. The games were run by the church youth group and young adults. There, visitors could try their hand at ring toss, the fishing hole, or bottle standing, probably the hardest game with very few winners.

Pastor Jeff Burrows of the Harvest Community Church also led a Harvest Fest where several women of the church provided free bowls of chili. In addition, several members had trunk or treat stations set up in the parking lot. Some just handed out candy while others had to work for their goodies at simple games.

Burrows said that for about three hours they had a steady flow of people. "The number of people that come doesn't matter to us as much as everyone feeling welcome and cared for," said Burrows, who dressed as a beach bum. "The emphasis would be that we enjoy being a safe place for families to come and relax along their journey through town, giving them the opportunity to warm up by the fire, have dinner, use the restroom and have fun," he said.

Plains Bible Chapel set up a tent at the Greg Welty Memorial Park, where throughout the evening members handed out 240 goody bags with candy, glow in the dark sticks and Bible tracts inside. The purpose of their "Glow in the Park" gathering was to provide an alternative to Halloween and spread the word of Christ, said Debbie Lindborg, the church secretary. This was the fourth year that the Plains Bible Chapel gathered at the park. Lindborg said that a continuous flow of kids and adults stopped at their tent.

Sunset Hills Funeral Home owners Wayne and Mary Egbert opened up their mortuary and gave out 40 dozen donuts, along with countless cups of cocoa and hot cider for the estimated 500 people who visited their "Halloween Body Shop" for three hours Thursday night. Visitors were greeted by "Bones," a skeleton in the hearse parked just outside the front door. And inside, the Egberts again went all out with scary decorations, including an old coffin with the name Tracy Scott on it. Wayne said it was a fun night and they love hosting the Halloween event at the funeral home, just as they have done for the last 16 years.

For the first year, Warrior Fitness opened its parking area for individuals and organizations to have trunk or treat spots. Rashell Jones, who had been set up at Plains School earlier in the day for the PTA, continued at the fitness center, along with Kyle Fisher and Jennifer Fratzke of Plains Ambulance. Brandi Rich, Matt Jaramillo and his dog, "Cyndr" also participated in the trunk or treat at Warrior Fitness.

Deb Warren wasn't a realtor with Century 21 Big Sky Real Estate Office on Halloween, but as Princess Leia, she handed out goodies to about 150 kids in front of MT West Dentist, along with Jake Shear, aka a Jedi knight, from Mr. Wizard Tech Solutions of Plains, and Dana Sherwood, the dentist office manager.

Nearly all of the residents of the Clark Fork Valley Hospital Long Term Care joined in the festivities to hand out candy for its annual "Treat Walk" Thursday afternoon. Some, like Kim Bay, donned a costume for the event. Aleesha Graves, the nursing home activities director, said that 24 of the 28 residents took part to hand out candy. Graves said that some 200 kids from the community stopped by for the Treat Walk.

The hospital also had a pumpkin decorating contest for its staff and family members. Nine people participated in the contest, which was judged by the long term care residents. The winner was a "SpongeBob" pumpkin by 13-year-old Jay Howell, the son of a hospital employee. Graves said they had only nine entries, but some showed a creative imagination and artistic talent. Second place - only one vote behind the top pumpkin - was a strawberry pumpkin done by Xander Howell, age 7. Third place was a cactus pumpkin done by hospital staff member Hailey Sisson.

One of the biggest draws of the night was the traditional Plains Lions Club's Halloween Weenie Roast at Fred Young Park. A handful of Lions Club members set up two barrels of fire and provided willow sticks for people to cook their hot dogs over the fire pits. The club also provided buns, condiments, pop, and bottled water.

They also had their traditional costume contest. The judges, Tiff Saner, and Doug and Vicki Reynolds, looked over nearly 50 costumes in three different age groups. In each age class, the judges selected the scariest, cutest, most original, and judge's choice. They also had a group category, which was won by Josh Black, his daughter, Neviah, 10, and "Bullseye," their horse, for their "Toy Story" characters. Winners received $6 in gold coins and a bag of candy.

"I think the judges did a great job on their choices," said Lions President Steve Spurr, whose family, Whitney, his wife, daughters Kendall and Cooper, and his mother and father-in-law, Margo and Marv Tanner, went as characters from the television series Ted Lasso and placed third."It seemed like low numbers this year when I arrived at five, but there were a lot of things going on in Plains for the kids, so it's great to see so many people getting together to better our community," he said.