Downtown businesses, Poulsbo Market host family fun with treats o’plenty.

POULSBO — Little Norway was awash in the Halloween spirit Oct. 31 as numerous local businesses rolled out the welcome mat for trick-or-treating families.

Trick-or-Treat Downtown was a sugar-coated hit.

Costumed kiddies took advantage of a blocked-off Front Street to file up and down the avenue and visit spirited shopkeepers with basketfuls of candy treats.

At Rocambole Garlic Shop Betty Mirkovick and owner Teresa Schultz dressed as, you guessed it — garlic — and handed out candy to the kiddies and Georgian Crystal garlic cloves to the adults.

At the other end of the street, clowns Topsy and Derby (no real names, please) delighted in the children who passed them just as much as they brought smiles to the faces of families.

In the busy New Havne Vienen walkway, Caron Guilfoyle sensed husband Pat losing ground to the advancing army of Spidermen, princesses and dinosaurs and grabbed a handful of sugary surprises.

“This is so much fun,” she said, excitedly popping treats into awaiting plastic pumpkins.

Downtown by no means had the corner on the trick-or-treat market though, and Highway 305’s Poulsbo Market Place hosted a Halloween bash of its own.

Shoppers picking up their favorite gourmet olives and cheeses in the store’s deli couldn’t help but smile seeing little car hop cuties, a “cat-erfly” and a couple of Tony or Tigger tigers led by store manager Al “The Mad Hatter” Moore.

“Isn’t this great?” Moore remarked, handing out candy to his little guests. “We had no idea how many people would show up, but I’m impressed.”

The evening included a “Wrap your mummie” competition (which the dads seemed to especially enjoy), a Monster Mash cake walk and spooky treats including dirt cups with gummy worms and a peanut butter and chocolate kitty litter box no one seemed brave enough to touch.

And, of course, there was also the Scary Dairy, a mini-haunted house in the store’s dairy cooler that even the smallest goblins enjoyed again and again.

“And I didn’t even see any curdled milk or expired cottage cheese back there,” Moore quipped.

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