By Emily Randall
Northeast News
Oct. 20, 2010

The annual trick-or-treating extravaganza in Scarritt Renaissance Neighborhood is coming back in 2010, and, with a new leader at the helm, looks to be bigger and more interactive than ever before.

Scarritt resident Amanda Stinger volunteered to organize this year’s “Scare-it Halloween” on Gladstone Boulevard. She has partnered with Parisole Arts Foundation, a nonprofit group with the goal of introducing arts to underserved children; the Kansas City Museum; Cicada Rhythm and area volunteers to crank Halloween up a notch this year for an estimated 8,000 children.

Parisole Arts will contribute art installations, juggling performers, face painting, pumpkin painting, a rope maze, a costume tent for children without costumes or those who want to improve their costumes, and more. Parisole Arts is also offering a $50 Motivation Grant for supplies for artists to create a piece specifically for the event. See www.parisolearts.org to learn more.

There will be fire performances, five-a-side soccer, clowns traveling up and down Gladstone Boulevard and four inflatable slides and bounce houses, as well. Cicada Rhythm, of Lawrence, Kan., will bring added spook to the neighborhood with fabric art attached to the trees lining the boulevard.

“The goal is to bring as many people from the Northeast in,” Stinger said. “We have a lot more free, fun, safe activities for the kids [this year]. We want to make it a really memorable activity for the kids.”

Additionally, she said this event gives Northeast an opportunity to showcase itself in a positive way to the outsiders who join in on the fun. Without the Fall Festival — a big Northeast event that went defunct years ago — other events need to fill that void, Stinger said.

There will be about 20 homeowners handing out some 150,000 pieces of candy again this year. Stinger is still looking for donations — both of the monetary and sweet variety — and volunteers for the Sunday night event. Volunteers will supervise road barricades and inflatable activities.

She also said vendors are welcome to participate in the night of trick-or-treating. For a donation to the event, vendors can sell food in the neighborhood. Stinger said it would be a great opportunity for local businesses to reach thousands of people.

Stinger took the helm of “Scare-it Halloween” in September when she saw no one else was stepping up, and she worried the event would not happen. That, she said, was unacceptable.

The Scarritt resident of five years had never been to a neighborhood association meeting, but after attending a neighborhood picnic on Labor Day, she decided to become a leader.

“It’s been really fun,” she said. “I’ve been able to meet a lot of people from the neighborhood.”

A mother of two girls, Stinger is a representative for the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers. She has degrees from KU and Harvard, and, although she grew up in Parkville, was never aware of the Northeast neighborhoods until she moved here from the Westport area.

“What I loved about this neighborhood was that it’s urban, but you have the nature,” she said. “It’s not just a park, it’s the woods. I grew up playing in the woods, and I wanted my kids to have some of that, too.”

She said she was inspired to take up a huge event like Halloween in Scarritt because she wants to make a difference in her community.

“I wanted to give something more interactive for the kids [on Halloween],” she said. “There’s so many kids, but there’s really nothing to do besides walk around and get candy.”

To volunteer or donate to Scarritt’s Halloween event, e-mail Stinger at amanda@thesoccerlot.com.