Hot air balloons haunt Corrales trunk or treat

CORRALES — Trunk-or-treating has become a popular method of Halloween celebration in recent years, and almost every community has at least one. Corrales is no different, except the way they do trunk-or-treat is more inflated than others would expect.

There were indeed trunks decked out in spooky decorations, all manner of Halloween costumes and candy at the Oct. 31 Corrales Trunk or Treat at the parks and recreation athletic park. But there were also at least a dozen hot air balloons inflating as attendees zombied their way through the line of trunk-or-treaters.

One family had their mini balloon on display and brought their kids to enjoy the festivities.

“We’ve come out here for the last five, six years, and it’s just a great activity to do for the family. We’ve done our large fire balloon, and now we’re the doing the mini tonight,” Aaron Ivener said.

Aaron and his wife Lisa were there with the pink heart mini balloon. They were glad the weather was calm because with even the slightest breeze, mini balloons can’t go up.

“It’s more fun and they take up less space. They’re a little bit easier to deal with, and the kids really like them,” Lisa said.

There were several balloons at the park, both large and small.

Besides the balloons, inflatable costumes were popular this year, too. A few Stay Puffed Marshmallow Men were seen roaming around as well as a dinosaur and an axolotl. Non-inflatable costumes were ranging in all categories including Glinda the good witch from “The Wizard of Oz,” Ghostbusters, zombies, pumpkins and more.

For the Iveners, the trunk-or-treat is both fun and safe.

“I think it’s a good activity for the community to put on and you have residents of Corrales that are showing up, but also people coming from other parts of the city. You don’t have to worry about cars. It’s all in one place. I feel comfortable with my kids roaming,” Aaron said.

He thinks the trunk-or-treat idea is popular because of the safety aspect. He added that Corrales homes are so far apart that traditional trick-or-treating is just too much of an ask because the amount of walking takes the fun out of it.

The night at the park ended with a balloon glow, and another Halloween came to a close in Corrales.