OSWEGO – Halloween fun, costumes and treats were in heavy supply yesterday at the Oswego Speedway’s Trick-or-Treat drive-thru event with rows of cars lining up outside the gate awaiting entrance onto the decorated track.
As cars slowly made their way around the course, mask wearing, costume-clad vendors dropped treats into children’s bags through open windows, extending Halloween well-wishes to families.
The idea, created by Youth Activities Aide for Oswego City-County Youth Bureau Jennifer Losurdo, came to her while at work, as she was thinking about, of all things, milk.
“I was sitting at my desk and I was going to work the milk give-away [at the Oswego Speedway], and I thought, ‘Oh my God, why can’t we not do a drive-thru trick-or-treat?’ Lorsurdo said.
The event was created as a way to have fun on Halloween in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Losurdo’s idea was the perfect way for families to celebrate without fear of contracting the virus.
The idea soon turned into a collaboration with the Oswego Speedway, the City of Oswego, Lighthouse Lanes and Iheart Oswego, along with the Oswego Fire and Police Departments.
“There are over 106 vendors; different businesses [and] individuals – everybody from the community jumped on board. We couldn’t do it without the communities support,” Losurdo said.
Losurdo also praised the Speedway’s support in making the event possible. She and Oswego Speedway owners are now working on a Halloween event for 2021, hopefully without the need for cars.
“I’ve already approached them on it, and the Oswego Speedway, they have been fantastic; amazing to work with – amazing.” Losurdo said. “I want to thank all the businesses, volunteers, and just everybody because, our community, when it comes to this stuff, pulls through when we need them.”
A select group of friends from the Oswego High School’s Class of 1989 joined together in yesterday’s celebrations. The lasting friendships started in middle school, the group often participating in community events together.
Jennifer Arena, one of the OHS alumni, was excited about joining the event, jumping at the idea to participate as a group when first presented with it.
“This was a Sunday-morning-five-o’clock-over-coffee-let’s-give-out-candy-we-saw-this-on-Facebook [idea],” Arena said.
The group has an open chat group where members reach out to each other at all times of the day and night to talk and share information. Fellow OHS alumni Julie Chetney agreed with the plan.
“We just decided that we wanted to do this event, and we reached out to even our other classmates, and they then donated money to the candy and the cause, which is really cool,” Chetney said. “I think we’ve got $500 worth of candy. It’s a great cause. We love to be together and to do some good for the community, so really, that’s what it’s all about. It’s great that kids get to do this [because] I don’t think parents feel comfortable with them going out trick-or-treating, and this is great for them.”
Oswego High School National Honor Society members Jared Yoder, Miah Metott and Zachery Metott also decided to join in on yesterday’s revelries.
“We need to do community service, and we figured it’d be a good opportunity because I’ve worked with the Youth Bureau before. So, I do enjoy [working] with Jen; she knows what she’s doing,” Yoder said.
Volunteer John Grouber, dressed as a strikingly eccentric raven, added his thoughts on sharing his time to help at the community event.
“I really love Halloween, and so anytime that there’s a Halloween event, I’m here,” Grouber said.
Tunes for Tots made an appearance at the Speedway yesterday, the organization created by Oswegonian Michael Coon as a way to raise awareness for the Toys for Tots program.
“Ten years ago, my friend Michael Coon, started this on his own because he wanted to do something that was different,” OHS 1989 alumnus Nick Reitz said. “So he started doing a musical event to raise awareness about Toys for Tots; just something fun – and it started to grow from there.”
Coon has been running the organization for ten years, with a musical event scheduled for December 12 here in Oswego.
All donations from yesterday’s event will go to Toys for Tots.
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This event was handled terribly! My son was so excited, with his bucket ready. We were stuck in line for the event 2 miles out from the speedway for over an hour, with miles of traffic behind us as well. The event was not equipped to handle as many people as it attracted. We turned around and went home. Terribly disappointing. Kind of a theme with events Barlowe is involved in.
You needed patience to get to the event but was so worth the wait. Being a new event I am sure they did not expect the turnout but I know my kids received more than enough candy. Great job!