October 31,  2017 marked a successful 15 years for the Halloween event Treats in the Park, hosted by the Western Community Centre at Elliot Park in Nawton, Hamilton.

The event has been an annual occurrence since 2003, but the Western Community Centre had their first run of the event in 1998. A public community meeting held that year is credited for starting the event, as parents were concerned with the safety of their children when trick-or-treating late into the night.

The event has been consistently growing since it became an annual occurrence, and is now one of the biggest in the community with more than  2500 children attending this year.

Manager of the Western Community Centre, Neil Tolan, said the number of children attending the event usually ranges from 1500-2000 children. “The children get little treat tickets, so we’re able to gauge the numbers pretty well. Last year we had around 2100 children, so this year we made enough treats for 2500 because we don’t want any kids to miss out.”

The large attendance numbers mean that the Community Centre has to be careful how much they advertise, so it does not get too large for them to handle. “The word is definitely out there, and a lot of people know what’s happening,” Tolan said.

Instead, the event is mainly advertised through word-of-mouth in the community.

When asked about the importance of the event, Tolan mentioned tradition and how the event has become part of the community culture. “A lot of the people who used to come as kids, now come with their kids to the event, so it’s become a tradition for many people.”   

While the event is aimed primarily at children there are a range of activities, such as a skate competition run by Htown Skate Project, costume competitions, treat stations, food stalls, inflatable castles, local entertainment, and information stalls.

Nathan Morgan, Events Coordinator and Youth Development Worker said the event is supported in many different ways through “a cool team of staff, an important Board of Trustees and our awesome funders, the Hamilton City Council, Trust Waikato, Vehicle Imports Direct and Rick from Funworks Inflatable Rides”. 

These sponsorships help cover some of the costs of the event, but in recent years the Community Centre has introduced a $5 charge for children wanting to collect items at the treat stalls to help make the quality of the event grow with its size. 

The Western Community Centre is always trying to improve the event each year, but they say the biggest aspects of the event are the treat stations, the costumes and the community culture.

Tolan said one of the main areas for improvement is getting more community groups involved. “We want to get more groups to run their activities at the event to support it and our community.”

The community in the area is diverse, and the Western Community Centre likes the event to reflect that. “There’s a range of different people, different lifestyles, different socioeconomic backgrounds. There are families and friends, and everyone in the community is welcome,” Tolan said.

The Western Community Centre crossed off another successful and expectation-exceeding event, and Tolan reflected on the achievement of the event going for 15 years. 

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“I am really proud. It’s great that we can say we’ve done a big chunk of this. Every year it gets better and we see rewards. It’s a lot of work, but on the night when we see the community together and happy children and families, that’s what makes it worthwhile for us,” Tolan said. 

Morgan added, “it’s an amazing thought having been part of one of the Waikato’s hugest ‘treats’ events, and accomplishing a very important community venture and milestone”.

Plan of Action

Treats in the Park is an event that does not start and end just in one day but involves a planning process of months as it has to organise an event for a massive crowd.

During a meeting before a Treats in the Park night, conducted at the community centre in preparation for the event, someone suggested giving the kids some seeds they could plant in the gardens. So every year they do sunflower seeds, and then they might do beans or pumpkins.

The event begins with the packing of around 20,000 candies and more than 50,000 sunflower and pea seeds, for all the little participants that attend the event and take part in the best-dressed competition.

Several volunteers came together to help the community centre pack these sweets and seeds and this preparation starts two to three months before the event as  every treat and seed is packed individually.

Then there is the increase in volunteers, there is a lot of people who want to be involved, so maximizing everyone’s hours they have to give in, so that takes a bit of co-coordinating as well.

Organiser Neil  it was pretty hectic on the night of the event. “So it’s making sure we’ve got lots of volunteers on the ground, making sure people have got drinks of water out there, because it’s quite hard to get breaks for all of us.”

This preparation began at around 1pm in the afternoon and was all set up by 3pm as they were already organised with the display of the event.

Taui Johnson has been the MC for the event for more than 10 years now.

He is well familiarised with the event and the crowd so he just turns up on the day of the even, does a bit of mic testing, and is ready to go.

Taking down notes on the spot and coming up with things to say is not easy but for Taui, who is now so synchronized with the event, it is a piece of cake.

Johnson said he returns every year just to see every child grow up.

He meets up with the directors of the event a few weeks or days before the event and discuss the changes that have been made for the current year so he can entertain the crowd.

Each year there is a new ride or stall.  This year they had the safety ware stall that was an informative and, at the same time fun, stall for the kids where they learnt home safety organised by Safekids Aotearoa. 

This is the fourth year now that Verity Howells has performed for the event and was accompanied by her twin sister Naomi Howells. B performed like real rock stars, entertaining the crowd as they cheered them along.

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They prepare for the event just minutes before they could reach the event on their way in the car putting on their Halloween outfit and makeup, Verity mentioned that “We finish school at 3.15pm and just scoot right up to the community centre”.

For many people in New Zealand, the excitement for Halloween begins in October, but in Sharyn Ann Comer’s home, the anticipation begins many months before.

She and her daughters have attended the event for the past three years, and in recent years her five-year-old daughter Cassie has begun asking in January when Halloween is and when they can go to the event again.

Sharyn spoke about her favourite memory of the event, saying that in a previous year when they went to get their tickets stamped, a volunteer complimented Cassie on her teeth because they look like vampire teeth. “Ever since then, she’s been so happy, saying ‘oh I’ve got vampire teeth!’ She says that to everyone now.”

With Treats in the Park being a staple event in their family, she stated that the thing she enjoys most is the time it gives her to spend with her daughters. “We get that time together, we get to dress up, we get to go out into the community. They get little treats, and they get to go on bouncy castles as well.”

“These events that the Community Centre does, allows us to participate in things that we usually wouldn’t get to do.”

She credited the Western Community Centre for making the event possible, saying that the low price point and numerous activities on offer helps make it accessible to many.

The event accessibility and atmosphere are why people such as the de Wild family attend every year.

Eric and Jenni de Wild have been bringing their family to the event since their sons were younger. Their youngest son Joshua was born six years ago and has been attending the event his whole life.

Joshua was born with Spina Bifida, which Jenni said can make it a little harder to go to many different events.

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Explaining further on the subject, she said that “Josh was in hospital earlier in the day and he was so tired, so we weren’t going to go, but he gets so excited about it and he wanted to go anyway”.

Coming to the event paid off, as Joshua won a certificate and a prize in the first costume competition of the night. He excitedly shouted about the pack of cards won for best costume in the competition, and how much he loved playing at the event.

While Joshua played at a stall with his dad, Jenni spoke about the people who go to the event, saying that “everyone is so open and there’s no judgement from anybody because everyone is having too much fun”. She said this makes it easier for the family to relax.

The atmosphere makes it is easy for new families to go to the event and feel as if they fit in.

Indiana Maher and her father Vaughan Oliver spent their first Halloween at Treats in the Park this year, as Vaughan believed it would be a safe alternative to trick-or-treating. He said one benefit you can see as soon as you arrive is that “it’s safe and it’s cool because it is set up for Halloween, as opposed to people’s houses where they may not want trick-or-treaters”.

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He believed it was a good alternative to traditional trick-or-treating, and that it offered something different than many other events. “You can see different groups of people. There are police, educational stalls, and organisations that are anti-family violence. All of these things benefit the community directly, so it’s awesome to see them here.”

For those who are new to the event like Vaughan and his daughter, the Western Community Centre Facebook page allows people in the area to connect with each other any time of the year, and keep up with updates for the event.