On Thursday, October 29, a $2 donation gets a costumed child onto the trail at Hickman Main Park for two hours of candy. After expenses, that money goes to the City of Hickman to buy and install lights on city-owned trails. The event has raised money this way for close to twenty years. This year the Hickman Area Economic Development Association's vendor letter points to one result: new lighting in the "Haunted Hollow" section, which the letter credits to past vendors and participants.
The same pattern shows up elsewhere in town. Hickman tends to add recreation in small, funded pieces. A stretch of lights is paid for by an October fundraiser. A trail link was built with a federal grant. A park is being built in phases with local sales tax. Trick or Treat on the Trail is the easiest place to see how that works.
What the $2 pays for
The city's event page explains how the money moves. The Hickman Area Economic Development Association, known as HAEDA, gives the event's net proceeds to the City of Hickman "for the purchase and installation of trail lights and improvements on city owned trails." Vendor sponsorships and the families who attend each year are what fund the improvements.
The fee to take part is $2, paid online, and the city page tells families to save the receipt because it serves as entry to the trail. The same page has a separate link for anyone who wants to give more to what the city calls its Trail Lighting & Improvement campaign.
The $2 adds up because of the crowd. HAEDA's August 20, 2026 letter says the event draws more than 1,400 children each year, along with parents and grandparents from across the Norris School District and nearby communities. Vendor booths add more. Businesses and organizations choose one of five sections along the route, at two price levels:
| Trail section | Vendor sponsorship |
|---|---|
| Candy Corner | $65 |
| Haunted Hollow | $45 |
| Monster Midway | $45 |
| Scarecrow Fields | $45 |
| Pumpkin Path | $65 |
The letter says every booth is non-frightening, so the event works for all ages. Vendors can start decorating at 3:00 p.m., three hours before the trail opens at 6:00. Haunted Hollow has the note about new lighting next to its name. A section that once needed lighting is now lit, and families walk past the result in the same section where vendors are raising money for the next stretch.
Why the lights come one section at a time
The City of Hickman's trails page describes a trail system of just under four miles. Its best-known segment, the Hickman Road East link, is a 10-foot-wide concrete trail. It connects to an existing trail on the east side and runs to the city's west edge, and the city says federal Transportation Enhancement funds helped finish it.
The concrete came from one source and the lighting comes from another. A grant can pay to build a trail. Lighting the system is a slower job, and Hickman pays for part of it with an evening of candy and booth fees each October.
The event's own numbering shows how long this has gone on. HAEDA's 2023 registration form called it the 16th annual Trick or Treat on the Trail, and the 2025 form called it the 18th. That puts this month's walk near the end of a second decade of small, steady contributions to the same goal.
The route keeps changing too. Last year's event, held Thursday, October 30, 2025, started near the basketball court at Main Park. This year it stays in the same park, at 100 Main Street, on what HAEDA calls an extended route, with the trail starting near Buchanan Field.
Terrace View's pickleball park follows the same pattern
The trail lights are the small version of a pattern that also shows up at a much larger price. In Terrace View, at 839 Titan Drive, the city is building a park in phases. According to the city's project page, it is being paid for with Local Option Sales Tax funds.
The project's history explains why it is being built this way. The city's June 27, 2024 press release introduced a concept plan from JEO Consulting Group Inc. It called for three pickleball courts, a tennis court, a playground, public restrooms, a water fountain, picnic tables and shade shelters, open green space, trail connections and park lighting. The same release says the developers agreed to deed at least 2.5 acres to the city at no cost. It also says voters rejected a city aquatics-center bond issue in November 2020, and that the city was looking into other funding, grants and sponsorships.
The project combines donated land, sales tax revenue and a phased schedule. The city awarded the Phase One contract to Rogge General Contractors, Inc. in October 2025. Phase One covers off-street parking, underground utilities, a sidewalk and trail, grading and seeding, the pickleball courts and lights for the courts. The city's September 2026 update says weather and material shortages caused some delays, and that the contractor has assured the city Phase One should be done by the end of October 2026. That is a target, not an opening date. As of this writing, the courts have not been announced as open.
Phase Two is in the city's 2026–2027 budget year and may include more trail connections, parking, playground equipment and landscaping. If Phase Two adds trail connections, it adds trail to the same system that the Halloween walk helps light.
The budget behind the phases
The state budget form Hickman filed for October 1, 2026 through September 30, 2027 estimates $800,000 in local option sales tax receipts for that year. The city's budget comparison for the same year lists $645,750 in capital improvements in the Culture/Recreation (Parks) Fund. That total is not broken down by project, so it cannot be tied to Terrace View or any other single site.
Together, the two figures show the scale of local funding. The sales tax estimate is about the size of one year of capital work. That is enough to build a park one phase at a time but not all at once. The Halloween proceeds are much smaller and pay for one specific thing, which is trail lights. Both are paid for locally, and both show up as finished improvements that can be seen on the ground.
Dates for the rest of October
- October 12, 5:00 p.m.: Last chance for late vendor registration for Trick or Treat on the Trail, if space allows. Late vendors will not appear in all event advertising. Contact [email protected] or [email protected].
- October 24, 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.: The Hickman Arts Council's annual Makers Market at the Hickman Community Center, 115 Locust Street, with local makers, live music, food and drinks, and crafts for children, according to the event listing.
- October 29, 6:00 to 8:00 p.m.: Trick or Treat on the Trail at Hickman Main Park, 100 Main Street, starting near Buchanan Field. Entry is the $2 participation donation.
- End of October: The contractor's target for finishing Phase One of the Terrace View pickleball park at 839 Titan Drive.
Families on the Haunted Hollow stretch this month will be walking under lights that past trick-or-treaters helped pay for.
Parks, trails and phased projects like Terrace View help shape what daily life looks like on a particular Hickman street over the next few years. Knowing what has been funded, and what is still only a phase in a budget, is part of evaluating a home here with care. If you would like that kind of grounded, local perspective as you consider your next step, Black Tie Realty is glad to talk it through with you. Let's Begin.
