The Halloween Hop is organized by the New Ulm Area Chamber. On the Saturday before Halloween, participating businesses hand out candy to children who want to show of their costumes early. The Halloween Hop has proven to be very popular in New Ulm, but this year saw higher than average participation in part due to the weather. Temperatures were in the mid 60s during the morning and into the afternoon.

It is unknown how many families participated is this year’s Halloween Hop, but unofficial counts place the number of people downtown at nearly a thousand.

The historic Kiesling House on the north end of downtown Minnesota Street counted 986 people. Brown County Historical Society executive direct Amy Johnson was helping hand out candy at the Kiesling House. By noon, she said they had counted 986 people stopping at the Kiesling House. This included children and their parents.

John Fritsche was helping hand out candy at the American Legion and was surprised how much candy was distributed. He estimated going through 500 candy bags.

The Nissen family—Alyssa (left), Eloise (center) and Theo (right)—handed out candy for Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) trunk or treat event. Alyssa said that Theo wanted to dress up as Super Mario so they selected it as their main them.

“I have never seen so many kids at one time,” he said.

The Brown County Museum was also open during the hop with a special Halloween themed scavenger hunt. Well over 300 kids came into the museum during the first hour.

The scavenger hunt was held on all three floors of the museum. Kids needed to hunt for a variety of spooky items including a felt pumpkin on the first floor; a mummy on the second floor and a witches broom on the third floor.

New Ulm Chamber President Sarah Warmka was pleased with the turnout for the Halloween Hop but also praised the participating businesses.

“It is great to see the local businesses give back to the community.”

The Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) trunk or treat began Saturday afternoon and brought out a large crowd. Many of the families trick-or-treating downtown Saturday for the Halloween Hop moved to Jefferson Elementary Parking lot later in the day. EFCE trunk or treat featured 21 different organizations handing out candy.

The downtown Halloween Hop ended at noon, but the trick-or-treat fun continued elsewhere. The fourth annual Early Childhood Family Education (ECFE) Trunk-or-Treat was held in Jefferson Elementary Parking lot Saturday afternoon. Twenty-one groups and organizations decorated their vehicles to participate.

ECFE coordinator Betty Uehling said this year’s trunk or treat had more favorable weather. Last year the trunk or treat was cold and windy, but it was the exact opposite this year.

“We could not ask for better weather,” Uehling said.

The ECFE trunk or treat was different from the downtown Halloween Hop in that most of the groups handing out candy are nonprofit and service organizations.

Pro Kinship, a youth mentoring organization, was handing out sweatshirts during the trunk or treat. The nonprofit received a donation of sweatshirts and used the ECFE trunk or treat to distribute them.

Nine-month-old Ripp Reinhart rode around with a collection of stuffed animals in a mobile claw machine Saturday. The claw machine was his first Halloween costume designed by his mother Molly Reinhart. Ripp would win the most creative Halloween costume at Schell’s costume contest.

Uehling praised the community for making the trunk or treat possible.

“We couldn’t do this without community support,” she said.

By late afternoon, many of the trick or treaters and their parents had moved to the Schell’s Brewery for the Schell-o-ween celebration. The celebration concluded with a special costume contest. Six awards were given in different categories.

Funniest costume went to little Margo Miller for her shrimp costume.

Scariest costume went to Evelyn Griebel for her vampire costume.

Kelsey Woitas holds 10-month-old Miles Woitas who is dressed as a lamb for his first Halloween. For his lamb costume Miles received “The cutest” costume award during the Schell’s costume contest.

Sparkliest costume was awarded to Kya Schwab for her flying saucer costume.

Best group costume went to Olivia and Levi Dauer for their Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce outfits.

The most creative costume was awarded to Ripp Reinhart for his claw machine outfit.

The cutest costume award went to 10 month old Miles Woitas for his lamb costume.

Saturday’s events were only the beginning of the holiday fun. The final round of trick-or-treating will begin on Halloween night.

Kya Schwab maneuvered her flying saucer costume around the ECFE trunk-or-treat at Jefferson Elementary. Schwab’s costume was one of the most unique. She would later be given the “Sparkliest costume” award during Schell’s costume contest.

Little Margo Miller holds her award for “Funniest costume” given during Schell’s costume contest. Margo’s shrimp costume brought many chuckles during Saturday’s Halloween activities.