The front yard of the Halloween Home Challenge organizer Darlene Patrick. “I am a Halloween hoarder, proudly!” she said, in regards to the plethora of decorations she’s amassed over the years. Her display on Prescott Street in Farmington is complete with singing pumpkins and a graveyard illuminated by lights. Andrea Swiedom/Franklin Journal

REGION — Local community organizations and the towns of Farmington and Wilton have designed creative alternatives to trick or treating this year that will follow Maine’s Center for Disease Control (CDC) guidelines.

Both Farmington and Wilton will host a modified Trunk or Treat this week that requires children to remain in cars or truck beds while admiring a procession of Halloween decorated vehicles. Farmington will host its Trunk or Treat on Oct. 30 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Community Center parking lot at 127 Middle Street.

“People can stop to take an extra long look, but there’s nobody getting out of vehicles,” Recreational Department Assistant Director Michael Muise said, in a phone interview. “The only people that will be outside in the lot will be our staff that are working on the candy and guiding traffic, and then the people that are standing outside of their trunk are standing with their decorations.” 

The Farmington Recreational Department asked local businesses to participate in decorating vehicles for the event. Muise said that the department is close to reaching its goal of 20 participating businesses with establishments such as 3D Games, Orange Cat Cafe, Java Joe’s and the Downtown Press already signed up.

The United Way of the Tri-Valley Area and Wal-Mart have donated candy which will be prepackaged into goody bags and handed out to children as they leave the parking lot.

“Once they leave, we’ll have staff that hand it [goody bags] over while wearing gloves and everything else to make it as contactless as possible,” Muise said.

The recreational department is asking families to register for Trunk or Treat by Thursday at 4 p.m., by calling 778-3464 to ensure sufficient candy has been prepared.

When registering, families can select a 15-minute time slot to enter the Community Center parking lot on Friday.

On Halloween, families can head over to Wilton for even more candy by participating in the town’s Trunk or Treat on Oct. 31, from 3:30 to 5 p.m. Main Street from Food City to the New Great Wall restaurant will be sectioned off for parked, decorated vehicles.

Children must remain in cars or the back of trucks which will form a slow-moving procession as people hand out candy.

“The idea is they come through and then they’ll come right out,” Wilton’s Chief of Police Heidi Wilcox said, in a phone interview. “At a time, there could be between 15 and 20 vehicles safely within that stretch, but it’s going to be a flowing circumstance so they’ll all come and pass through.”

Wilcox added that families do not need to be Wilton resident’s to participate in the town’s Trunk or Treat.

Yet another option for families is to tour decorated houses participating in the Halloween Home Challenge, a first-time competition organized by Farmington resident Darlene Patrick.

By visiting the event’s Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/LokisWorkshopHalloween/, people can view an interactive map of participating houses in the Greater Franklin County that are competing in one of four age-based categories. Patrick created different categories so that children wouldn’t be competing against adults.

Patrick has designed professional haunted houses in New York City for the past 30 years and was planning on bringing a haunted attraction to the Farmington fair this year before it was canceled. She was surprised by the interest in the home challenge and said that next year she is going to offer it state-wide. 

For more information on the Halloween Home Challenge, visit http://www.tinyurl.com/mainehaunts.

Other spooky activity options include a haunted house hosted by the Elks Lodge #2430 at 120 School Street in West Farmington on Oct. 30 and 31 from 6 to 9 p.m. The cost is $2 per person or $10 for families. For more information, call the lodge at 778-6761.

The Trail of Terror hosted by the United Way and Titcomb Mountain is still on this year with some modifications and requires purchasing tickets ahead of time at http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ehcd1m0k4dfd4395&llr=cunc7wjab.

The haunted walk will take place on Oct. 30 and 31 from 7 to 10 p.m. at Titcomb Mountain at 180 Ski Slope Road in Farmington. Tickets are $15 for a one-hour time slot.

Halloween Haunted Trail of Livermore, 97 River Road, will be open Oct. 30 and 31 from 7:30 to 10 p.m., weather permitting. $15 at the gate, $13 with advanced reservations. Cash please. Be patient with us. CDC guidelines will be followed: mask up for safety.. sign a covid waiver and hand sanitize on arrival. Proceeds go to the Haunted Trail scholarship fund. For more information, call 207-446-9933 or email hauntedtrailoflivermore@gmail.com.