Costumes, fun and fireworks

It was a uniquely fun Halloween season in the Columbus area this year.
The costumed-fun launched Saturday night with the Scavenger Dash hosted by the Stillwater Legacy Trails group. Twenty-four teams comprised of four people were each given more than 70 clues in three categories. Those categories included items stashed around town and one that gave specific directions to something in town that had to be marked with a selfie, said organizer Jill Exner.
There were also random items on the list, such as a newspaper from September, an Easter egg, something sticky, a ketchup packet, business card from out of town, etc. Project Hope was one of those random items, with each food item that could be donated worth five points, said Exner. Ann Davey’s team won the hunt with the most overall points. Exner estimated that more than 10 grocery bags of food were donated to Project Hope. Approximately $2,500 was raised towards the trails.
On Halloween, a business-to-business trick-or-treat event drew scores of families around town, despite dropping temperatures and increasing wind. The Stillwater County Library estimated more than 100 kids came through its doors, with similar reports from Pike Avenue businesses. The Columbus Evangelical Church held a Trunk or Treat event and spotted at roughly 4:30 p.m. was a long flatbed trailer filled with costume-clad kids heading down North Fourth Street.
And shortly after 7 p.m. came the topper — a top-notch fireworks show put on by Stillwater Valley’s own Next FX and Pyro FX out of Billings. The show had originally been slated for the S.C.O.R.E. End of Summer Bash, but had to be delayed due to high fire danger.