Costume Contest & Trunk Or Treat at Acworth JamBOOree

ACWORTH — Acworth brought the spooky season celebrations early Saturday at the city's Halloween JamBOOree.

The celebration, hosted at Logan Farm Park, 4405 Cherokee Street, invited hundreds of families from across the state for an evening of games, music and costumes.

Families were welcomed to wear costumes to get into the Halloween spirit. A costume contest was held for kids of all ages and families who came dressed up together.

A panel of judges gave out awards for "Funniest Costume," "Most Creative Costume" and "Best Family Costume."

Winners of the contest were given a trophy at the end of the night to celebrate the victory.

Alisa Paden of Acworth brought her daughters and granddaughter to the celebration dressed as minions from the "Despicable Me" franchise. The family, who won this year's "Best Family Costume" award, picks a new costume theme every year for the event.

"Last year, we were "Alice in Wonderland," the other year we were "The Incredibles," Paden's daughter, Dorinda Arnold, said. "We win every year!"

Douglasville residents Allen Powell, Mariah Powell competed in the competition dressed as Starbucks baristas with their son Everett, 1, dressed as a macchiato. All the costumes were handmade by Mariah Powell.

"We wanted to showcase my costume I made for (Everett)," Mariah Powell said. "Since they had a 'Most Creative' category I thought, 'Let's try it, maybe we'll win.'"

Powell's hard work paid off as they walked away with the award for "Most Creative Costume" for Everett's age group.

Outside the contest, sponsors for the JamBOOree hosted a Trunk or Treat celebration with a different theme for each vehicle's trunk.

The city also hosted a small pumpkin patch where families could purchase and decorate a pumpkin using paints at a nearby tent. Kids could even meet local farm animals including piglets, ducks and goats at a small petting zoo.

For more active activities, children could run around in a maze, slide down a slide or bounce up and down thanks to multiple inflatables provided at the park.

Multiple games including a dunk tank, inflatable "ax" throwing and a bean bag toss were offered to families to help keep the party going.

Monet Lee, of Austell, brought her granddaughter Melody-Rae Gurreri to the party to help get into the Halloween spirit.

"That's what it's for, that's exactly why we're here," Lee said. "Halloween is in a couple weeks and we love to do our festivities every weekend."

Allen Powell celebrations like the JamBOOree are a big part of celebrating the fall season in their family.

"Fall festivals are a huge part of the holiday season," Powell said. "You get to be out here with a lot of people in the nice weather ... this is great."