PLAINVILLE, Conn. (WTNH) — Thousands of people will flock to a neighborhood in Plainville Halloween night for a block party that has become a major event. It is also a major source of donations for the Plainville Food Pantry.Six neighbors on Metacomet Road combined their front yards’ Halloween displays into what they call the Mega Metacomet Halloween Thriller.“This all started, give or take, about 20 some years ago with two hay bales and a scarecrow, that’s it,” one of the organizers Dan Bucci said...
PLAINVILLE, Conn. (WTNH) — Thousands of people will flock to a neighborhood in Plainville Halloween night for a block party that has become a major event. It is also a major source of donations for the Plainville Food Pantry.
Six neighbors on Metacomet Road combined their front yards’ Halloween displays into what they call the Mega Metacomet Halloween Thriller.
“This all started, give or take, about 20 some years ago with two hay bales and a scarecrow, that’s it,” one of the organizers Dan Bucci said.
It grew, and even added dancers from the YWCA doing the Michael Jackson Thriller dance. Then, 11 years ago, they decided to add something else, and began collecting donations for the local food pantry.
Coincidentally, the day after Halloween this year is when millions of Americans could lose their federal food assistance.
“People are scared. They’re worried,” Plainville Food Pantry Executive Director Susie Woerz said. “They don’t know which way to turn.”
It turns out the government shutdown is scarier than anything Halloween can dish out.
Mega Metacomet has gotten so big and is so well known that people showing up with supplies for the food pantry hours, even days before Halloween.
“The Plainville Food Pantry has actually had to come twice early already, before Halloween, before the actual event because we’ve had so much food collected already,” Bucci said. “Already over 1,000 pounds before Halloween.”
“People are stepping up to the plate, but we’ve been spending $2,000 to $3,000 a month on food to keep our shelves going,” Woerz said.
That was with 1,307 people in town getting SNAP benefits. The Metacomet donations are coming at just the right time.
It is one of the reasons organizers got the skeleton key to the town, as well some official proclamations and citations. It turns out the scariest place for Halloween may actually help make what’s to come a little less frightening.
The Mega Metacomet Halloween Thriller runs from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at 62–69 Metacomet Rd., Plainville, CT.