CARIBOU, Maine — Costume-clad families, teens, and adults packed into the Caribou Wellness and Recreation Center on Halloween for plenty of tricks, treats, and scares.
Trunk or treat volunteers lined their cars up in the crowded parking lot, offering a variety of treats for the children from the trunks of their vehicles. Booths, games, and a bounce castle also were set up in the gymnasium for the younger guests, and the basement featured a haunted house for the older crowd who dared to enter.
The haunted house, along with trunk or treat, were new additions to Caribou’s annual Halloween celebration, and would not have been possible without the help of Dr. Valerie Waldemarson and her 47 JMG Students from Caribou High School.
Waldemarson said the haunted house was a two-month long project focused on financial literacy that had her students creating a “well-thought out, full business model” and working within a tight budget.
Her class was given $600 to create six “scenes” within the haunted house. Students formed six groups and had to develop a frightening environment with only $100 per group.
“The only thing I did was provide six scene ideas, teach them the budgeting aspect, and show them how to write a business model,” Waldemarson said. “They shopped around, looked for the best deals they could find, created the budgets, wrote all the scripts, and designed all the costumes.”
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- Fifteen cars lined up in the Caribou Recreation Center parking lot for a “trunk or treat” event on Halloween during which children and their families were treated to candy. This is the first year Caribou has offered “trunk or treat” in conjunction with the city’s annual Halloween celebration. Christina Kane-Gibson, the city’s marketing and events coordinator, said the turnout was greater than anticipated. (Christopher Bouchard)
Waldemarson said the reaction to the haunted house was positive, with many guests “shocked at what the students could produce” and surprised with “how creative it was.”
“They used things from their own homes, and made things with their own two hands,” Waldemarson said on Halloween night. “I think people are just floored by the work the kids put into this.”
Waldemarson said that, if asked, she and her students would “absolutely” create another haunted house for next year’s event.
“It was an awesome financial lesson and, on top of that, the kids are having a blast doing it,” she said. “This is just an amazing event that brings all ages of the community together, and met all of their needs.”
The JMG instructor also commended Christina Kane-Gibson, Caribou’s marketing and events coordinator, for her efforts in “bringi
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- Caribou’s 2017 Halloween festivities featured a number of games, booths, prizes, and even a bounce castle, in the Wellness and Recreation Center gymnasium. (Christopher Bouchard)
ng everyone together” for the city’s annual event.
Kane-Gibson said she was thrilled with the large turnout, adding that she and Parks and Recreation Manager Matt Bouchard and Parks and Recreation Superintendent Gary Marquis had been planning the event for roughly two months.
“We did a ‘trunk or treat’ this year,” she said. “We have 15 participants, people are lined up outside, and the kids look fantastic. It’s a first for us and we’re pretty happy with the turnout.”
The events coordinator said the events in the gymnasium were initiated by former Parks and Recreation Superintendent Kathy Mazzuchelli over 30 years ago, and that the new additions are going over very well.
“I want to say, the last time Caribou had a haunted house was 20 years ago,” she said. “The kids worked really hard on it, and it’s pretty spooky down there.”
Kane-Gibson acknowledged the long hours put in by recreation department staff to decorate and organize the event, along with Waldemarson’s JMG class and all of the community volunteers involved with the “Trunk or Treat,” saying there are “so many people to thank.”
“We’re having a blast,” Kane-Gibson said that night. “I love Halloween.”
