Trick or Treat

Tommy, 4, dressed in a blue and red body suit, sat in the Preschool of the Yuba College Child Development Center eating his snack. When asked who he was, he said, “Spiderman!”

Why was he Spiderman? Tommy thought a minute. “Because… because…my mom bought me the costume,” he said.

The preschool was filled with many other characters including cats, power rangers, alligators, dinosaurs, Zorro and an endless array of princesses. Every fall for the past 16 years, the children at the Child Development Center at Yuba College dress up to ask for treats around campus.

All the children were excited about “the walk,” a yearly tradition that begins at the CDC and weaves throughout the campus, allowing staff and faculty to enjoy the parade and treat children to goodies. A little alligator by the name of Gregory said he dressed up to “walk and get candies.”

The preschoolers got candy only from designated areas this year. A few departments had called the preschool to make arrangements to hand out treats. Unlike previous years, the children traveled only to specific places, opposed to parading around the entire campus and were divided into small groups instead of traveling together. The preschoolers ended their trek at the Learning Resource Center.

Unfortunately, this year was the last that the kids would be dressing up and walking through campus, according to preschool teacher Faye-Dean Lewis.

“A lot of people are getting away from Halloween,” Lewis said. “At first it was a way for the kids to connect with the community, but we are finding other ways of doing that.”

Lewis said that next year a new way to connect with the campus preschoolers will be a November festival called Harvest in November.

The details about Harvest in November are still rather vague, but it will most likely take place at the preschool on the playground or another near by area. For more information on the Harvest festival for the Yuba College preschool, contact site supervisor Karen Stanis at (530) 741-6966.