Palatine High School is hosting its annual Trick-or-Treat Festival on Oct. 24 from 5 to 6:30 p.m.
“The trick-or-treat festival has been going on for years,” festival organizer Shannon Szukala said. “It’s kind of the same traditional event every year, where activities and athletics get heavily involved.”
Clubs and athletics are assigned to decorate different rooms so children in the Palatine community can trick-or-treat throughout the whole building.
“It’s a big fun event, and we sometimes have over 1,000 kids that come in,” Szukala said. “Then the student cafeteria will be set up with games.”
Unfortunately, they will not have the blow-up bouncy house this year, like they usually do, but there are still many activities for the kids to do.
“We do have some rooms that are scarier than others,” Szukala said. “We do note that for the little kids.”
Sports or activities that are participating in creating a room are responsible for letting Szukala know if their room will be scary or not.
“It’s going to be fun,” Szukala said. “It can be crowded, though.”
It’s also important for participants to come in costumes.
“We do a lot of donations for candy,” Szukala said. “They’ll pick up a bag of candy, and they’ll come and drop it off by me.”
They also get a lot of donations from the Booster Club and also from local businesses.
“So, I will work on pushing out candy donations,” Szukala said. “Sometimes reaching out to outside organizations.”
There are going to be many volunteer opportunities for this event.
“This year, for sure, I’m looking for student volunteers with decorating and cleaning up,” Szukala said. “I definitely can also use help with even running boxes to groups during the day if they’re out of candy.”
Activities and sports are typically allowed to choose their own theme, as long as they let Szukala know if it’s going to be scary.
“As far as what they want, it’s up to them,” Szukala said. “I love seeing all the little kids. They love seeing all the decorations and everything.”
This Palatine tradition is not only a way to bring people together, but also offer a sense of belonging for people of all ages.
