NEW ULM — The annual downtown New Ulm Halloween Hop turned into a regular Monster Mash, with hundreds of kids in costumes trick-or-treating at local businesses on Saturday.
The Halloween Hop is organized by the New Alame Area Chamber. On the Saturday before Halloween, participating businesses give out candy to kids who want to show off their costumes early. The Halloween Hop has proven to be very popular at New Alam, but this year saw a higher than average turnout due to the weather. Temperatures were in the mid-60s during the morning and afternoon.
It’s not known how many families participated in this year’s Halloween Hop, but unofficial figures put the number of people downtown at around 1,000.
The historic Kessling House at the north end of downtown Minnesota Street housed 986 people. Amy Johnson, executive director of the Brown County Historical Society, was helping hand out candy at the Kessling House. As of noon, he said he counted 986 people staying at Keesling House. This included children and their parents.
John Fritsche was helping hand out candy at the American Legion and was amazed at how much candy was distributed. He estimated going through 500 bags of candy.
“I’ve never seen so many children at one time.” he said.
The Brown County Museum was also open during the hop with a special Halloween-themed scavenger hunt. More than 300 children visited the museum during the first hour.
A scavenger hunt was organized on all three floors of the museum. Children need to hunt for a variety of spooky objects, including the pumpkins on the first floor. A mummy on the second floor and a witches broom on the third floor.
New Alum Chamber President Sarah Vermeka was pleased with the turnout for the Halloween Hop, but she also praised the participating businesses.
“It’s great to see local businesses give back to the community.”
The downtown Halloween hop ended at noon, but trick-or-treating fun continued elsewhere. The fourth annual Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) Trunk or Treat was held Saturday afternoon in the Jefferson Elementary parking lot. Twenty one groups and organizations had decorated their vehicles to participate.
Betty Uhling, ECFE coordinator, said this year’s trunk-or-treat season was more favorable. Last year’s trunk or treat was cold and breezy, but this year it was the complete opposite.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better season,” Yuhling said.
ECFE Trunk or Treat differed from the downtown Halloween hop in that most of the candy-giving groups are non-profit and service organizations.
Pro Kinship, a youth mentoring organization, was giving away sweatshirts during the trunk or treat. The nonprofit received a donation of sweatshirts and used ECFE Trunk or Treat to distribute them.
Uehling praised the community for making Trunk or Treat possible.
“We couldn’t have done it without the support of the community,” he said.
By late afternoon, many trick-or-treaters and their parents had gone to Schell’s Brewery for the Schell-o-ween celebration. The event concluded with a special costume competition. Six awards were given in different categories.
Funniest costume went to little Margo Miller for her crab costume.
Scariest costume went to Evelyn Grable for her vampire costume.
Kaya Schwab was awarded the flashiest costume for her flying saucer costume.
Best Group Costume went to Olivia and Levi Dauer for their Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce outfits.
Most Creative Costume went to Rip Reinhart for his Claw Machine outfit.
The best costume award went to 10-month-old Miles Voitas for his lamb outfit.
Saturday’s festivities were just the beginning of the holiday fun. The final round of trick-or-treating will begin on Halloween night.