About 200 adults and children showed up for Jefferson, Wisconsin’s first ever downtown trick-or-treating festival, Boo Bash, on Wednesday evening. 

The Jefferson Chamber of Commerce ran the event and several businesses, such as Wedl’s Hamburger Stand and the Jefferson Public Library, lined up and down South Main Street to hand out candy to the children. 

The streets were full of volunteers wearing funky and matching costumes. The Jefferson Public Library volunteers wore matching banana costumes, and a couple blocks down, there were more volunteers in “Despicable Me” minion costumes. 

Kelly Becker, one of the volunteers, said, “My favorite part of this event so far is getting the community together and involved.” Her and her friend, Bonnie, were very happy with how many people turned out to participate. 

“I like seeing everyone happy and together again,” Bonnie said. 

Although this is the first ever Boo Bash, the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce is planning on trying to have Boo Bash every year. It is going to be an annual Halloween event in which children and their families can go trick-or-treating and experience activities, like a photobooth, drawings, and giveaways.

“I’m just so glad we got to do it this year,” Denise Derry of the Jefferson Chamber of Commerce said. “We wanted a way to bring the community together because of the past years during the pandemic. We hopefully plan on doing more Boo Bashes moving forward.”

The event started with the families crowding downtown Jefferson pretty quickly. Several police officers were up and down South Main Street directing traffic. 

Most businesses scattered through Jefferson had parking lots that were completely full. Lots of cars were circling South Main Street. 

A little over 30 businesses participated in handing out candy to the families. Some children seemed to like the Jefferson Public Library’s candy the most. Probably because of the banana costumes. 

By the end of the event, the street’s traffic started to simmer down because of the thunderstorm that was approaching. Luckily, the event ended before the storm reached Jefferson.

“Our director is leaving, but that doesn’t mean we are not going to continue on with what we are doing,” Derry mentioned. “Which, obviously, is a huge success!”