Saline Main Street's Trunk or Treat Draws Thousands to Downtown

Families flocked to downtown for the annual Trunk or Treat hosted by Saline Main Street. Rainy skies disappeared just in time for the thousands of costumed visitors to arrive with goodie bags in hand, ready to visit the 40 different businesses and organizations in attendance.

“The event is amazingly wonderful,” said Karen Carrigan from Saline Main Street and Carrigan Café. “We have two thousand plus kids again. We have Rings of Steel theatre troupe, music from Throw Yo Hands Up Entertainment, the DTE truck, Saline schools. We had somebody that asked about a petting zoo, and we said ‘Sure! Let’s do it this year!”

Carrigan sees this event as a way to connect families with local businesses in a fun environment.

“For the businesses, they don’t have to open their shop. Instead, the office can come out here. This way, they can send business cards and share with the community, and get to meet the people that they talk to face to face,” Carrigan said.

Carrigan was thankful for all of the support for this event, including sponsorship from SBK Orthodontics.

Many organizations and businesses returned again this year, including Saline’s police, fire and ambulance services, along with Saline Area Schools and the Saline District Library. Several first-time attendees also made their trunk-or-treat debut and were impressed by the amazing turnout.

Christ Our King Lutheran Church participates in the yearly holiday parade downtown, but this was their first year participating in Trunk or Treat.

“We used to do it at our church, and now that there’s a bigger one in town, we decided to participate here to get more exposure, and boy has it taken off,” said Scott McClelland, deacon at Christ Our King.

McClelland enjoyed seeing the many creative costumes, as well as promoting upcoming events. They chose a LEGO theme, which they plan on continuing for the Home for the Holidays parade on December 6.

“We did a LEGO design for the building of the home. The church builds the home, and it's going to tie in to our Christmas float. We’re handing out candy and miniature Jesus figurines, along with a postcard and bar code for anybody who wants to visit. We have a prize for any of these kids that want to come to the Christmas program on December 14th at 11am. They can enter to win LEGO prizes, too.”

Another new attendee this year was Bearclaw Coffee Company. Jerry Roles and his team were handing out free hot cocoa and candy to guests.

“We just want to get our name out for all events. You’ve got to be a part of the community,” Roles said. “We’re a family owned local business, and we want to be a part of the Saline community. It’s important to be involved in things like this. It brings people together. It’s nice to see people and meet new people.”

Varsity Blues performers were dressed in costume for their upcoming production of “Descendants: The Musical” on December 5 and 6th at Saline High School. They passed out candy and walked the event to pose for photographs and promote the musical.

Miss Saline, Madylin Marshall, was happy to greet visitors at the Miss Saline tent. Dressed in fairy wings and a brightly lit tutu, she passed out candy and posed for photographs while promoting the upcoming Toys for Tots event in November.

“I love being Miss Saline and being in our community,” Marshall said. “This is one of my absolute favorites. I get to see so many children in one night.”

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