By Dan Spalding
News Now Warsaw
WARSAW — Thousands turned out Saturday for Winona Lake’s Trick-or-Treat on the Trail, and big crowds are expected at Friday’s Downtown Spooktacular in Warsaw.
But the noise and hectic pace of those kinds of big community events are not always a comfortable environment for everyone, especially for those with special needs or challenges.
Michael Kuhn, the executive director for The Magical Meadows, said they’ve heard those concerns for years from parents, especially those with disabled adult children who still have a thirst for youthful frivolity that they might have missed out on when they were younger.
“When they go out and try to trick-or-treat as an adult, sometimes people aren’t so kind,” Kuhn said. “They don’t understand the scenario, the situation, and what that person may be dealing with.”
With that in mind, The Magical Meadows hosted its first-ever trunk-or-treat event, specifically designed for those with disabilities and other challenges.
Hundreds filed through the trunk-or-treat event, without having to worry about odd looks or comments.
Kuhn said he thinks the new tradition will fill a void.
Since some of the participants were non-verbal, there was also no need to greet candy givers with the traditional “Trick or Treat.”
This year marks the 20th anniversary for Magical Meadows, and coincides with the opening earlier this year of two new indoor riding arenas. Those renovations also included a long concrete parking lot, creating a good location for a Trunk or Treat event
“With our new facilities, it just opened up an opportunity to really be able to welcome a lot more people and have the parking lot space to be able to do this,” Kuhn said.
Bourbon firefighters were on hand with a fire truck for children to enjoy and photo opportunities for trick-or-treaters were also available.
Saturday’s event is part of a growing effort by Magical Meadows to serve a broader segment of the community beyond horseback therapy with specialized needs.
“Even though this doesn’t necessarily have anything directly to do with horses, it’s still an extension of that purpose and of that mission of just showing people love and making sure that they know they have a place where they can go and feel welcome,” Kuhn said.
Other groups turned out just to support the cause, Kuhn said.
Representatives of Night To Shine, including Tina Rice, were among those helping out.
Night to Shine works to create prom experiences for those with various disabilities.
“Because it’s designed to be inclusive for our special needs community, we thought it was a perfect opportunity for Night to Shine to be able to come out and explain a little bit or be a little bit more visible because we’re only really visible once a year in the community when we do our big event,” Rice said. “So this way we like to give back as well.”
