ATHOL – The Athol Royalston Regional School District’s Community Night Out, which drew more than 1,000 people last year, is back and ready to go.

The free event is scheduled for Thursday, Oct. 24, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at O’Brien Field behind Athol High School. There will be music, food, a bonfire, and vehicles representing school clubs, teams and area community groups parked along the AHS track for a “trunk or treat” contest.

Shirley Mitchell, director of the district’s Family & Community Center, is coordinating the event with the assistance of volunteers. Mitchell said a shuttle bus will help with parking and transportation to the event. The bus will begin running at 5:10 p.m. and stop by 8 p.m.

“MART (Montachusett Regional Transportation Authority) is offering a shuttle this year,” she said. “So, it’s very important to park up by ACES (Athol Community Elementary School) or ARMS (Athol Royalston Middle School). The shuttle will bring the nice scenic route to the high school so they can avoid the congestion of the traffic.”

Mitchell said this is the Night Out’s fourth year, and in 2023 it proved to be more popular than anticipated.

“Last year,” she said, “we had more than a thousand people show up. That doesn’t even count the people who showed up to set up trunks. We had 1,018 tickets and we gave them all out. It’s free, but we just hand out tickets as people are walking in.”

Mitchell said the event began as the community was “just coming off of COVID and the kids just wanted to spend time with each other,” and provide school faculty a way to meet parents outside of the classroom.

“It’s all about building community,” she said. “Who would have ever thought so many people would come to an after-school event? People want to come together.”

Mitchell said planning for this year’s Community Night Out has included part-time help and a student intern at the Family & Community Center.

“This year we had a planning meeting. The Fire Department was here, the Police Department was here, our facilities manager, our food service director,” she said. “Before, the onus was on us to cook; we cooked 850 hot dogs last year. This year, we have the water delivered and the food services people are going to cook the hot dogs for us. It’s great to have volunteers. People are really looking forward to it.”

Last year was the first that an award was handed out for the “Greatest of All Trunks,” following the truck or treat contest. All the trunks, said Mitchell, are decorated. Thus far, 31 people have registered their vehicles for it.

“Everybody who’s taking part says, ‘We’re going to get it his year,’” she added.

Last year’s trunk award went to the AHS Kindness Team.

“They did this whole luau theme,” Mitchell said. “They had the sand, the shirts, costumes, they had music. They had a thing where parents could have their picture taken with their kids. It was a lot of fun.”

Another highlight of the event is the bonfire. Mitchell said pallets and other wood items are currently being gathered for the fire, which will be managed by the Athol Fire Department. The bonfire will be lit at around 5:30 p.m. “and as it gets closer to 7 p.m. they’ll start to wind it down,” according to Mitchell.

To volunteer for part of the evening, email Mitchell at smitchell@arrsd.org or call the high school at 978-249-2435 and ask for the Family & Community Center.

Greg Vine can be reached at gvineadn@gmail.com.