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A boy in a Mario cap swung his leg through the air at the edge of a square of artificial turf Friday evening while a goalkeeper in a sky-blue fleece suit and a U.S. soccer jersey crouched to meet him. Behind them, the open hatchback of an SUV was draped in international flags.
The kick was one stop at Glover School’s Trunk or Treat, back for another fall in the school’s parking lot in Marblehead, Massachusetts. According to the school’s Oct. 2 newsletter, signed by Principal Mary LeBlanc, the event was scheduled for Friday, Oct. 23, from 5:30 to 7 p.m. for Glover families and siblings. Kids were told to wear costumes and bring flashlights.
Parents did the decorating
Families signed up to dress a trunk and bring their own treats. Others were asked to drop off nut-free candy and non-candy trinkets by Oct. 20 so no trunk ran dry. Setup was set for 3 p.m. The school asked for five volunteers for setup, five for cleanup and one to run a 50/50 raffle table.
Jillian Peterson and her daughter, Julia, built theirs around Dolly’s Imagination Library, with monarch butterfly banners reading “Dream more,” “Learn more” and “Be more,” a basket of picture books and strings of small lights. Julia wore a curly blond wig and a patchwork jacket. A hand-lettered sign credited to Dolly told visitors to give a smile to anyone without one.
Nina and Wyley Dinsmore went the other direction with “Grey Gardens,” wrapping their trunk in ivy and zinnias behind a picket fence sign. One sat in the back under a crocheted blanket. The other, in a printed headscarf and a fur coat, held a stuffed cat in one arm and a tray of candy in the other.
Pizza, doughnuts and a baby Luigi
Three Glover 1st grade teachers wore blue tutus dotted with cookies and shirts with googly eyes as Cookie Monster, beside a trunk crowned in blue tissue paper. Shawn Hoskins, in a plush rat head and a purple robe, held a pizza cutter next to a sheet pizza while Patrice Hoskins, David Gainer and Meghan Gainer, in green “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” jumpsuits, handed out slices.
The Quirke family’s “Dunkings” trunk had oversize doughnuts and pastel balloons, and a woman in an orange jacket lettered “Dunkings” stood behind a hot-pink table of Munchkins boxes and candy. Luka Svirks, a baby dressed as Luigi, rode in a carrier beside a Super Mario trunk hung with green, gold and red foil fringe and cardboard warp pipes.
Other trunks followed “Toy Story” and Candy Land, the latter built by 2nd grade teachers; a solar system with hanging planets and two silver-suited aliens; and a burlap Oogie Boogie standing in a flurry of white plastic balls.
Kids came as Marios; a Peter Pan in a feathered cap; a crab; a boy in black with a chain around his shoulder; and a soccer player in zombie makeup and gray face paint, clutching a Target bag. A purple inflatable spider in a top hat loomed over the lot, and white inflatable ghosts rose at the far end.
Near the Dolly’s trunk, a young child named Catherine, in a fluffy white lamb costume, stood in the road looking wary while an adult held out her basket for the next handful.
Will Dowd contributed writing.
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