Businesses were besieged by the devilishly diminutive, stalking one shop after the other for tricks or treats – with an emphasis on treats.
Hosted by the Deniliquin Mental Health Awareness group, it was estimated more than 500 Halloween enthusiasts flooded the streetscape on Tuesday afternoon.
And more than 35 local businesses made themselves targets of temptation for the trick/treaters to complete the community connection with the event.
Deni MHAG member Lourene Liebenberg says the business and sponsor support was fundamental to the success of the day.
She says without their willingness to go to the lengths they did, and get really invested in the program, it simply might not have happened.
“Families were in for a treat with all the businesses committed to its success, I doubt we could hold this without their support and we extend our sincerest thanks for participating in this event, which truly connects community”, Lourene says.
A shining example of community engagement has to be the Halloween colouring competition, which saw more than 200 entries received, with pre-schoolers and primary schools joining forces to submit entries.
Their mini-masterpieces are currently on display at Cressy Street Centre (376 Cressy Street), and all prize winners have been announced on the Deni MHAG social media page and in the window.
Prizes can be picked up at Community Mental Health Drug and Alcohol in the Cressy Street Centre.
Lourene says the pictures carry a strong theme that “asking for help is OK”, and all the kids did a fabulous job, with great creativity displayed.
She says – as always – the Deniliquin Rotary Club did “a fantastic job in supporting this community activity, and they cooked almost 400 sausages”.
“Families could be seen sitting on the lawns and enjoying some time together while tucking into their Halloween snags.”
Service providers also all staged activities and provided resources at the Multi Arts Centre, with the hall turned into a ghostly grotto with lots of decorations and hundreds of kids making their way through, collecting goodies (and lollies) and participating in multiple activities.
Deniliquin High School students again volunteered their time providing face and hand-painting sessions and helping supervise at road crossings.
Almost 200 bags of resources were handed out to the adults accompanying – all of them providing valuable information about services available in our community.
“The event is about having fun, connecting community, and, very importantly, embedding the message if things are tough or we feel we need help, that it is OK to ask for help,” says MHAG acting chair Alison Thorne.
“Resources handed out all pointed to helplines and services available to our community,”
Deni MHAG has an extensive website detailing services and helplines, and printable resources, at www.denimentalhealth.org.au
With the event growing every year, the Halloween committee will reconvene its coven in the next few weeks to look at ways of casting a new spell over the community in 2024.
It will also be exploring funding opportunities to help make the next event even bigger and better.
“We would like to see this amazing community event remain an annual fixture on our Deni calendar, and we need to see how we can make this happen without having to rely just on grant funding, which can be sporadic,”
“We have a bit of time up our sleeve to come up with some strategies – but for now, we are just really happy with the event and what it means to our families,”
12°C