BEDFORD – Super Treat Night hosted by Southern Indiana Classic Hits 105.5 WQRK, 1340 AM WBIW and LiteFM 102.5 WPHZ was Saturday night on Brian Lane Way along side the Boys and Girls Club of Lawrence County.
The spooky family-fun event, presented by WTIU, was free for all to attend, with many vehicles lining up for the festivities.
The event started at 6:00 p.m. with cars full of super heroes, princesses and athletes stretching the length of Brian Lane Way all through the night’s event.
Danielle and Austin Underwood attended the event for their first time, and were impressed by how things were put together.
“It’s well organized. I feel like the fact that they shut down the road for the event shows how much the event means to the community,” Danielle said.
Families were instructed to remain in their cars during the event to encourage social distancing, a measure that Danielle felt was perfect.
“I thought it was neat that they were still doing something for the kids, in a way to make the night special, but also keep them safe.”
Others in line, such as Diane Luttrell, had participated in the past, when the event was inside the Boys & Girls Club and were excited to see how the drive thru style would work out.
“We came two years ago when the event was inside and that was nice. We have our expectations on the event, but we are excited to see how this one goes,” Luttrell said.
WBIW, WQRK and LiteFM President Holly Davis discussed the decision to host the event outside, as a drive-thru experience for the second consecutive year and the planning that took place to get the event up and running.
“When you plan an event of this magnitude it requires planning ahead, especially with a small staff. When logistic planning began, our listening counties were in red status with Covid-19. Therefore, we made the decision to keep the event outside again this year to ensure we provided a safe environment for everyone involved,” Davis said. “Although having the event outside hinders us from providing a few of our staple favorites like our refreshments and interactive games we were able to maintain most of the same inside features outside. We did layer in a few new items with the outside event this year. As the vehicles wait they can watch Halloween cartoons and we added new visual elements with more lights and blow ups.”
This years route was different than 2020 and it took a lot of effort from the City of Bedford and Mrs. Davis to help make the route as safe as possible while also allowing the flow of traffic to be nearly continuous.
“Last year, our first year, was a learning curve. We had cars backed up to McDonald’s on 16th Street. Although it’s exciting to have so many attend, the appearance of a long line also gives the perception of a long wait. I gave this a lot of thought and felt that if we could make Brian Lane Way one way we could serve from the tents on each side of the tents. This would allow us to process twice as many vehicles through at once, speeding up the wait time while not deterring others from attending because of the traffic back up,” said Davis. “We couldn’t make this happen of course without the cooperation of the City. Mayor Craig and Chief Moore were great to partner with in this planning process and helpful in providing us with the barricades we needed along the exit routes for 19th Street traffic. I certainly appreciate their guidance, their time and their flexibility.” Â
Josie Lafevor and Pat McKnight from Once Upon A Child where glad to be a part of Super Treat Night and felt the layout was a great idea, minus the cold temperatures.
“I’m not looking forward to the cold wind but I think whatever they can do to make it comfortable for everyone is great,” said Josie. “I’m excited, I mean it was a little more challenging, but whatever we can do to help keep the kids safe, and still interacting with one another is awesome.”
With the numerous cars lined up on Brian Lane way, Davis was excited to see all of the families anxiously waiting their turn to get their treats.
“It’s been a great night! So much fun! The vendors love it and the public seem to be loving how fast they can get through, all without leaving their vehicles in this wet and chilly weather. We are on track to see our usual 3000 plus attendees again this year,” said Davis.
Davis knows that without the help of the City of Bedford and the dedication of the sponsors Super Treat Night wouldn’t have been possible.
“We could never offer an event at this magnitude for free to our attendees without our sponsor vendors and volunteers. All of our annual free events demonstrate just how much love and support our local business leaders and their staffs have for our community. They volunteer their time and resources to be here and I can not express my gratitude to each and everyone of them,” Davis said. “Fire Chief John Hughes volunteered to help us direct traffic on 16th Street so that we could funnel the traffic safely from both directions. He took the time to meet with Chief Moore to ensure he knew how to do this accurately on his own. He and the rest of our volunteers will be out here for hours in this chilly weather, I’m just so thankful for them all. ”
A special thanks to our sponsors for their support and decorations as well as making the night special for all who came by.
Sponsors include Title Sponsor WTIU, Anytime Fitness, Golden Corral, Shoe Sensation, Lawrence County CASA, United Way of South Central Indiana, Smoot Eye care, Bedford Federal Savings Bank-hand sanitizer sponsor, Smile Doctors Braces, UAW 440, Once Upon A Child, IU Health, Anthem Bluecross Blue Shield, Hoosier Hills Credit Union, USG, Hobson Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ram/Bedford Ford, and Anthem.
