Now, the way many local kids and families approach Halloween has changed. “Trunk-or-treating” is on the rise.

All factors considered, trunk-or-treating is a uniquely American approach to what was already a mostly-American holiday. Public concern about the safety of American children is ever-increasing — a 2018 study found that U.S. has the worst child mortality rate of the world’s 20 wealthiest countries, mainly due to gun violence. A desire for convenience due to strained schedules has penetrated many facets of American life — the Bureau of Labor Statistics indicated that more than 8 million American adults hold down more than one job. With trunk-or-treat, parents can ensure that their kids are safe and their own time is efficiently spent.

“It’s not like when we were children and we knew all our neighbors and everybody ran the roads all over the place and you didn’t have to worry about who was who and everything,” Wilmington town council member and trunk-or-treat organizer Tina Terry Preston said. “Just as long as you were home before the streetlights came on, you were safe. Now, a lot of people don’t know who their neighbors are. So now, you have to go and, you know, people are a little bit leery about taking their kids to houses because they don’t know who people are.”

There are now trunk-or-treat events all over the Tri-Lakes: Wilmington held its annual event on Sunday and events are planned on Tuesday for Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake and Vermontville.

Declan, 6, dressed up as Harry Potter for the trunk-or-treat event. (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

“We get (trunk-or-treaters) from Wilmington, Plattsburgh, Keeseville, Saranac Lake, Lake Placid,” Terry Preston said. “We get them from all over.”

Last year, Wilmington’s event saw 465 trunk-or-treaters. This year, 34 “trunkers” were signed up, and before the event on Sunday, Terry Preston was anticipating just as many — if not more — children than last year. Tupper Lake’s trunk-or-treat event, which is now in its fourth year, has seen comparable numbers. Organizer Lisa Reed said that there were more than 300 kids going trunk to trunk last year and she expects around the same amount this year.

Trunk-or-treating has been around since the 1990s, when people started “Halloween tailgating” as a way to solve the rural problem of spread-out houses that turned Halloween into a small-scale road trip for many families. Churches also began offering trunk-or-treating events as a way to make sure that children did not get into any trouble on Halloween. The format has seen a significant rise in popularity in the late 2010s and early 2020s.

“I think when COVID hit … it kind of took an uptick,” Terry Preston said. “And that’s when we started getting more and more kids. People felt it was safer.”

Safety and centrality are the main selling point of trunk-or-treat events. Neighbors, businesses and even first responders hand out candy in the daylight. Kids do not have to cross roads or even knock on strange doors. Everyone congregates in one central place — there are few chances for kids to get lost or hurt.

The Wilmington E.M. Cooper Memorial Public Library had an “Alice in Wonderland” themed booth. From left to right are Kate Sears as The Blue Caterpillar, Wendy Grossman as the Mad Hatter, Susan Hockert as Alice and Sam Baer as the Cheshire Cat. (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

“They’re in a central location, and it can be in addition, it doesn’t have to take the place of door-to-door,” Reed said. “But you can still bring the little ones trick-or-treating without having to go on the streets where it might be a little more dangerous for them.”

Recent studies, such as a 2012 study by State Farm, have shown that Halloween is the most deadly day of the year for child pedestrians. When combined with other concerns around Halloween — children potentially entering strangers’ homes, rowdy partygoers and tainted treats — trunk-or-treat is a way to eliminate the stress parents may experience around the holiday.

“I wish we had this when (our daughter) was little,” Wilmington Town Supervisor Roy Holzer said.

Another benefit of trunk-or-treating is its convenience, Terry Preston said.

“Even if you do live next door to somebody, you’re working two jobs, you’re not home to see your neighbors, you’re not socializing with that neighbor, and people aren’t quite as close as they were. They have smaller circles of friends because you’re either running to sports or you’re running here or there,” she said. “It’s an event that people can take their children, do as a family group in one spot, and then they’re over, they’re done with, and they can go home. It’s not as time-consuming, and I think that helps, as well.”

Wilmington’s trunk-or-treat event at the KOA campsite on Sunday featured a candy catapult. Families lined up to use it. (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)

The Tupper Lake Trunk-or-Treat will take place at the Tupper Lake Municipal Park from 3 to 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. Organizers are still accepting applications for “trunkers” at this link: https://tinyurl.com/3jehkt9f.

At Kate Mountain Park in Vermontville, there will be trunk-or-treating from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday. The Saranac Lake Baptist Church, which is at 460 Broadway, will also host a free trunk-or-treat event from 3 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday.

The Pomerville family chose to trunk-or-treat as Olaf, Elsa and Anna from the Disney movie “Frozen.” (Enterprise photo — Sydney Emerson)