Trick-or-treat, Pumpkin Drop for third Thursday

The third annual Great Pumpkin Drop and annual Downtown Trick-or-Treat will take place Thursday, Oct. 16. According to a release, "Participating Downtown merchants, organizations, and building owners will distribute candy and treats" beginning at 5 p.m., and costumes are welcome. The trick-or-treating event is "a long-standing tradition," said Donna Gross, downtown Tiffin main street manager, and "the majority of businesses participate each year." The Great Pumpkin Drop will take place in Lot 6, and features pumpkins decorated by Vanguard-Sentinel Career and Technology (VSCTC) students, Gross said. Tracey Funk, with the culinary arts and hospitality management program at VSCTC, said "each program will paint a pumpkin to represent the program," and attendees at the drop will have an opportunity to vote for their favorite pumpkin/program by dropping donations into corresponding jars. At 6:30 p.m., the pumpkins, with the assistance of the Tiffin Fire Department, will be dropped from 100 feet up onto a bullseye painted by Sentinel students, "where they will smash into bits to the delight of the crowd," Funk said. She said Sentinel also will host other activities that evening, including hair tinsel and braiding, face painting, take-and-make fall-themed cookies, fall ornament decorating, and giant Jenga and fire ring, and SkillsUSA will be selling Taste of the Trades Plum BBQ Sauce for $8 per bottle. All donations from the activities, pumpkin drop and BBQ sales will benefit SkillsUSA and Career Tech Student Organizations at Sentinel, she said. Gross said voting for the downtown merchants' annual Halloween window decorating contest also will begin Oct. 16. Votes can be cast through the date of the Halloween parade (Oct. 25), she said, and a tentative date to announce the winner is Oct. 27.