Trunk or Treat held at Acacia Memorial Park & Funeral Home

Cars and hearses lined the road

Story & Photos by David Carlos

For the second year, Acacia Memorial Park and Funeral Home 14951 Bothell Way NE, Lake Forest Park welcomed the community on an October Saturday for its annual Trunk-or-Treat event.

Wasn't it a frightening experience having it at a cemetery? Perish the thought! Boys and ghouls were all smiles as they went from car to car collecting Halloween treats. Staff members handed out cotton candy and popcorn, while games added to the festivities. Try as I might I didn't find any coffin-ated beverages, though.

Mike arrived in his 1976 Cadillac hearse, all 6,800 pounds of dead weight. How does the engine start? Maybe with a skeleton key? With scary Halloween tunes playing, Mike invited visitors to pose for photos inside a coffin.

Another hearse, a 1992 Caddy owned by Drew, had only 57,000 miles on the odometer. It still has a long way to go before it goes to the bone yard.

I asked Karen Reynolds, Acacia's Location Manager, how the community has responded to the idea of holding a Trunk-or-Treat at a cemetery.

She said, "So far, we've been pretty widely embraced. I think people are kind of enjoying it. We want people to know that it's not necessarily the scary place to come all the time. We want people to know that we're here, that we're not scary."

With plenty of treats, laughter, and Halloween spirit, Acacia's Trunk-or-Treat proved that even a cemetery can be a lively place to spend an afternoon.

Here's a brief video of the action