Hillsborough Street was a bustling sight Sunday afternoon on Oct. 23, as families led their mini ghosts, witches and princesses up and down the street on a treasure hunt for sweet treats as part of the Hillsborough Street Community Service Corporation’s (HSCSC) Trick or Treat event.

The three-hour affair consisted of candy stations stretching from Morgan Street to I-440 with special candy chests located outside select businesses along the way. Throughout the afternoon, street performers joined the trick or treaters in their walk while jazz duos, one-man bands and math rock trio Moving Boxes filled the street with music.

Costumes were vast and varied, bringing color and creativity to the busy street. Highlights included a stroller-bound stegosaurus, a newborn ladybug, some stylish pirates and enough Spider-Mans to fill the spider-verse. 

Jeff Murison, president and CEO of HSCSC, said the event was meant to connect local residents with all that Hillsborough Street has to offer.

“The primary objective is to attract families — particularly, local residential families and their children — to come to Hillsborough Street and have a fun, family-friendly experience,” Murison said. “To reconnect with those folks that live on and around the corridor. … It [is] a little bit more targeted to our local residential community and their families to come out and have a great experience, have some fun and connect with merchants in a spirited way.”

In addition to giving residents the opportunity to connect with Hillsborough Street, the event also connected residents and participants to one another. Lacey Wilz got to make some connections of her own as her kids got their candy.

“We’ve only been here a week or two, and I found [the event] on Facebook as something to get out and meet people,” Wilz said. “I’ve been able to meet some people actually from our apartment complex. … It serves mainly to get to know people and to get out and see other kids because we don’t know anybody. It was a lot of fun, and that’s what it was for.”

Volunteers from Sigma Chi fraternity manned each candy station passing out handfuls of goodies to the trick or treaters. Ridge Massarelli, a third-year studying business economics and a member of Sigma Chi, said the event allowed for fun, accessible trick or treating.

“I think it’s great for people that maybe don’t have neighborhoods where it’s easy to trick or treat to be able to come and walk down Hillsborough Street [or] NC State’s campus and have a fun time getting the Halloween spirit,” Massarelli said. 

Jesus Ontiveros, a third-year studying construction engineering and a member of Sigma Chi, enjoyed giving back to the Raleigh community.

“Just giving back and helping out makes you feel a little better,” Ontiveros said. “[I] like all the different costumes that kids show up in and [seeing] how they change from when I was a kid.”

With lots of joy and even more sugar, the event was a resounding success toward HSCSC’s mission of crafting Hillsborough Street into a welcoming and exciting place to live, work and visit, demonstrating the beautiful intersection of all walks of life that the street represents. 

“There’s always something new here,” Murison said. “There’s always something changing, and so we want to make sure that the street feels welcoming, that we invite people to come here. We want students to have a great experience, feel safe here. We want local residents to feel like the street is part of their community and their backyard, their neighborhood.”