Wow!  Last night I took my 10 year old daughter to the Lakengren Halloween walk; an annual event held at the lodge offering Lakengren children the chance to trick-or-treat in a safe, fun environment. 

My daughter was on the fence about attending this year.  We hadn't been for a couple years.  Last time around, it was just a little too intense for young ones and my daughter had someone jump out at her with a scary mask on.  Granted..this was just a teenager having some fun, but for those of us who have kids that are scared by masks and the like...it was a pretty traumatic event.  What seemed to be more traumatic for me in the past was parking.  Ahh! 

We decided at the last hour yesterday to give it one more shot.  As we rounded Lakengren Drive with the lodge in site, I saw tons of cars and just started groaning.  Imagine my delight when a traffic officer directed me just a wee bit further down Lakengren Dr to park, and we could get a FREE hayride to the lodge!  My daughter was thrilled and I was already feeling much more relaxed about not having to fight my way into, or out of, the lodge parking lot.

So we arrived via hayride at the lodge.  Several mini-tents were set up outside in a circle, with kids going from tent to tent and loading up with candy.  This year it seemed much more kid-friendly; Disney music in the background, no candy-givers dressed in masks or scary apparel, and just well-organized all around.

After making rounds outdoors, we stood in a short line to enter the lodge.  Inside they had a photographer taking pics of each child, then a long table set up offering more candy, pretzels, cheese crakers, not to mention your choice of cookies, doughnuts and other goodies to eat right on site.  Round the corner and we were offered hot coffee, apple cider, apple juice or milk.  To boot, they even had boxes of mini-pumpkins and gourds, and let my daughter pick out a couple to take with her.

Back outside the Gasper Fire Department displayed the big yelleow fire truck and offered children the chance to climb on and try it out.

With her hands full of candy, pumpkins and other goodies, we loaded back up on the haywagon for the short ride back to our car, avoiding the headache of getting out of the parking lot and the worry of hitting little trick-or-treaters on the loose.

I was just so impressed with the wonderful job that Lakengren did with the Halloween walk, and more importantly, my daughter LOVED it, and wasn't scared at all.  If you have never gone to the Lakengren Halloween Walk, I encourage you to give it a try next year as it seems that Lakengren has finally got the rythym down on giving little ones a great, not-so-scary, Halloween experience.