Gilpin Trunk-or-Treat, police dog fundraiser to take place at the fire department on Halloween
Gilpin Volunteer Fire Department will host a police K-9 unit fundraiser during the township’s Halloween event.
Police Chief Chris Fabec is Gilpin’s K-9 officer with his police dog, Rudy, a 5-year-old Belgian Malinois.
He said the K-9 unit is sustained through fundraisers and donations, with the rally being something new for the department.
“It’s something different to raise money for the fund to keep us continuing to not have any costs to the taxpayers,” Fabec said. “I’m looking forward to it. I think it will be a great way to interact with the community and the children of the community.”
Rudy has been with the department since December 2019.
“It’s a good resource to have in the township,” Fabec said. “He enables us to do things we weren’t able to do before.”
Food trucks slated to participate include PGH Eatz, Mike’s Dirty Dogs and Kona Ice with more to come.
Fabec said 20% of proceeds will be donated to the police dog fund to pay for training, dog food, veterinarian visits and related costs.
Township officials introduced Trunk-or-Treat a few years ago to increase safety and family participation in Halloween activities.
“This was chosen over traditional trick-or-treat due to the rural make-up of the township,” said supervisors chairman Charles Stull. “It was brought to my attention a few years ago that houses were seeing declining participation — some not even getting any trick-or-treaters.
“I brought the idea to the board, and we decided we would try a split trick-or-treat and trunk-or-treat. There was almost no trick-or-treaters that year, as most attended trunk-or-treat. Since then, we have done trunk-or-treat and it has been a wild success.”
It is presented by the township and fire department.
No registration is required.
“Every year it’s been getting bigger with people coming to get candy and people coming to give out candy,” fire department President Duane Knepshield said. “This way, every one can come to one general location in daylight. This is a great opportunity for us as a fire department to give back to the community in some small way. The community supports us so much.”
There will be a 600-pound pumpkin and an 80-pound watermelon on display.
People giving out candy can park on the lot behind the fire hall.
Families coming for candy can park at the Kalmar Chevrolet dealership across the street. Police will be on hand to help with traffic control.
Michael DiVittorio is a TribLive reporter covering general news in Western Pennsylvania, with a penchant for festivals and food. He can be reached at mdivittorio@triblive.com.
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