Normally, the scariest parts of Halloween are things like vampires, witches and ghosts. But this year, coronavirus was by far the most frightening part of the holiday.

To fend off the virus, towns adapted their halloween traditions to be virus-friendly and still maintain some sort of normalcy.

Across Marion and Mattapoisett, two different drive-by Halloween events took place on Oct. 24 to give kids the chance to celebrate the holiday safely.

In Marion, families drove through the Benjamin D. Cushing Community Center for a Trunk or Treat event hosted by the Marion Cub Scouts with the help of the town’s Police and Fire Departments, as well as the Sippican Lands Trust.

“We wanted to make sure the kids have some type of Halloween,” said Cubmaster Matthew Hilton.

As families drove up, they were greeted by a fire truck with Sparky atop the ladder, who was helping Cub Scouts send candy down a long chute and into the baskets of kids in cars.

Families drove through a line of themed parked cars while Scouts, dressed in costumes, used long poles or big PVC pipes to put candy in the buckets and bags of kids in the cars. 

“We felt like we needed to do a community service,” Cub Scouts chairperson Kristen Saint Don-Campbell said. Scouts handed out candy, picked up trash and made sure everyone was following covid safety guidelines like social distancing and using hand sanitizer.

“We’re happy that we can always be involved in the community,” Police Chief John Garcia said.

Families drove past cars with cityscapes full of superheroes, received candy from Indiana Jones and Captain America, and even learned about climate change from Lands Trust President Alan Harris who was dressed up as pollution.

In Mattapoisett, the Lions Club hosted a Mini Fall Family Halloween Drive-by at Old Hammondtown School. Families drove around the drop-off circle to be greeted by different members of the Lions Club dressed in different costumes. There, kids received a pumpkin and goody bag that was donated from Eastern Bank.

The club has been holding a Halloween hay ride event since 2016, but it couldn’t happen this year with the pandemic.

“Parents are really wondering ‘are they going to have Halloween this year?’” said King Lion Ross Kessler. 

He said the event went well, and they had about 125 kids receive goody bags.

Next week, Old Rochester High School will be hosting a Trunk or Treat event on Oct. 30 from 6 to 8 p.m. On Halloween, the Mattapoisett Police Department will have a drive-through trick-or-treat event at Center School from 4 to 6 p.m.