By LINDA CHION KENNEY
The first-ever Hillsborough Harvest Hoopla, held as a continuation of Trick or Treat Street, was a hit at Spoto High in Riverview, where Daniel Allen, dressed as the bio-exorcist Beetlejuice, said he was happy the much-beloved community event had been relaunched.
“We really missed Trick or Treat Street because it was a time that we could give back to the community, get together with fellow neighbors and have a good time,” said Allen, with his wife, Dawn, dressed as Lydia Deetz, the sweet teenage goth girl in the 1988 Beetlejuice flick, for which a sequel in September has been released.
Sam Torres, Bayside Community Church worship director, holds candy with Mackinley Munson. The church meets Sundays at 10 a.m. at Spoto High School.
The Krewe of the South Shore Marauders at the 2024 Hillsborough Harvest Hoopla Trick or Treat Spooktacular
Billed originally as the Hillsborough Harvest Hoopla Trick or Treat Spectacular, the Oct. 26 event was hosted by the Central Hillsborough County Chamber of Commerce, founded in 1966 as the Greater Riverview Chamber of Commerce. Chamber officials announced the group’s name change in a letter to members in December, unveiling the associated logo two months later, at the chamber’s awards dinner.
Trick or Treat Street (TOTS), last held in 2021, and for years growing and expanding at Riverview High, had been sidelined in 2022 and 2023 after a 32-year run. The event, since inception, aimed to create a safe, fun and family-minded environment for trick-or-treating.
In July Jeff Campbell, chamber board member, stepped into the role of chamber president temporarily after Ny’kole Krivda, the group’s president and CEO, did not seek a contract renewal. Krivda had replaced Tanya Doran, the long-serving chamber leader who resigned in April 2023.
At Harvest Hoopla, Campbell said he supported the Halloween event’s return, which was put together in earnest after securing the Spoto High location, thanks to the relationship the Bayside Community Church has with both the chamber, as a member, and with Spoto High, as its rental location. Dee Franks, campus pastor, suggested the use of the school and spoke with school principal Jazrick Haggins, which led to the location confirmation.
Named for educator Richard C. Spoto, the high school, opened in 2006 at 8538 Eagle Palm Drive, and enrolls students from Riverview, Progress Village and Clair-Mel area schools, including Bing, Clair-Mel, Frost, Ippolito, Lamb and Riverview elementary schools, and Dowdell and Giunta middle schools.
Destini Jackson, center, owner of Legacy Sweets, with visitors to her exhibit space at Hillsborough Harvest Hoopla
“We believed this area could use an event like Harvest Hoopla, and it was something that we could provide,” Campbell said.
“We’re the Central Hillsborough County Chamber of Commerce, and we need to extend our reach. We also have a very good partnership with the county, and they provided a lot of support.”
Happy to see Hillsborough Harvest Hoopla come to fruition is Kisha Perry of Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation, supervisor at the Gardenville Recreation Center in Gibsonton, who last attended Trick or Treat Street in 2021. That the relaunched effort came on the back of two major hurricanes over the course of 13 days was a super plus.
“It gives families and kids a sense of normalcy, something familiar, something to make them feel good in the moment,” Perry said. “This was a really good time right now for Harvest Hoopla, because people have gone through a lot.”
Likewise, Perry said she was happy parks and recreation opened as soon as possible after the one-two punch of hurricanes Helene and Milton, as she praised her team and other Hillsborough County workers for showing up and working long hours at county-run shelters, comfort stations and points of distribution for resources, including boxed ice and water, ready-to-eat meals and tarps.
Aside from a chance to dress up and collect candy at vendor spaces, Harvest Hoopla gave businesses and nonprofits an opportunity to showcase their stories, services, products and programs, including for Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation the upcoming no-cost Movies in the Park series. The first viewing, Trolls Band Together, is scheduled for 7 p.m., Nov. 8, at the Gibsonton Recreation Center. Popcorn and snow cones are free, vendors are encouraged and attendees asked to bring lawn chairs or blankets.
As a Harvest Hoopla vendor, Destini Jackson of Legacy Sweets said she hoped to network, sell some cheesecake and meet potential customers. She said the naming of her four-year-old business pays tribute to “the parents who raised me,” distant relatives “who took me in” and died 18 months apart. “They taught me how to bake,” Jackson said. “The business helps me channel my grief and makes me feel closer to them.”
Overall, spirits were high at Harvest Hoopla.
Linda Chion Kenney Photos
Daniel Allen and his wife, Dawn Allen, at the 2024 Hillsborough Harvest Hoopla, presented by the Central Hillsborough County Chamber of Commerce.
“People have been nice, and the kids got a lot of candy and gifts and another day to dress up,” said parent, Yuri Rios.
Another parent, Jennifer Cruz, added, “It was a safe event for the kids.”
As for Allen and his wife, who at Trick or Treat Street in 2021 dressed as Dracula and the Bride of Dracula, they again represented DeSoto Masonic Lodge No. 105 of Riverview. Allen this year paid tribute to the movie he remembered from his youth and to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, the sequel released in September, starring Michael Keaton, 73, again in the title role.
Allen said he is hopeful the newly launched Hillsborough Harvest Hoopla Trick or Treat Spooktacular has many sequels of its own. “When you take a couple years off, you lose a little bit,” Allen said. “But now that the community knows we’re back, we can grow Harvest Hoopla and double it in size next year.”