GILPIN COUNTY – At the not quite yet bewitching hour of 5 p.m. on Friday, October 25, throngs of trick-or-treaters and their family members arrived at the Gilpin Community Center for an enchanted evening of fun and fright.

As the first and most pressing matter of business, gleeful children filled their bags or baskets full of candy while strolling the Trick or Treat Trail. From there they could go on a hayride or proceed to the Barn where a myriad of carnival games and two bounce houses awaited them.

Tic-tac-toe seemed simple enough except you had to throw a wiffle ball at a grid to register your X’s and O’s. Beanbags were incorporated in Spider Hole and Duck Hunt. In Dough-Not Touch, kids attempted to eat a doughnut suspended on a string using just their mouths. Back this year for another run was the perpetually-popular T.P. Toss with contestants aiming for a “bowl in one.”

An ominous blanket of darkness slowly descended upon the Haunted Trail that beckoned the brave. Cobwebs with giant black spiders on them shrouded the pathway. Zombies groaned in the shadows of the woods as they stalked you then suddenly appeared out of nowhere! If not already frightened out of your gourd, a woman’s ghostly white decapitated head hung in gossamer strands to the side. Exiting the trail, you are happy to have escaped alive.

Scary and non-scary events are held at the Gilpin County Community Center, 250 Norton Drive, Black Hawk, year-round. For more information, go to www.gilpincounty.colorado.gov.