ATHOL – More than 1,500 people of all ages attended Thursday’s Athol Royalston Community Night Out at Athol High School, which featured the annual Trick or Trunk competition.

The event saw nearly 50 community groups, service organizations and municipal departments taking part – most competing for the prize awarded to the GOAT (Greatest of All Trunks).

Vehicles of all sizes ringed O’Brien Field, each with its trunk or hatchback open and full of candy and other items to be given away. In the end, the GOAT honor went to the North Quabbin Community Coalition, whose entry portrayed the Sanderson Sisters from the movie “Hocus Pocus.”

Other organizations that decorated trunks included Athol Community Elementary School Kindergarten Team, LaunchSpace, Athol Congregational Church, Royalston Community School, Athol Girl Scout Troop #65316, Inside ‘n’ Out Buddies, Seven Hills and the North Quabbin Chamber of Commerce, among others.

Judges for the event were Athol Royalston Regional School District Superintendent Matt Ehrenworth, AHS alum Rubi Diaz Velez, and Selectboard Chair Rebecca Bialecki. Bialecki recused herself from the vote on the finalists because her daughter, Heather Bialecki-Canning, serves as the NQCC’s executive director.

“We were looking for the quality of the storytelling and how much work went into it,” Bialecki said on the judging process.

Volleyball nets were set up on the field along with other outdoor games, and a Frisbee or two could be seen flying overhead. Music for the event was provided by DJ PR, who also served as emcee for the evening.

“It gets bigger and bigger every year, I think,” said Ehrenworth. “This event is just to bring the whole community out and give the kids and the families an experience, to enjoy the candies and the costumes, and there’s also a lot of information on community resources given out.”

With the help of many volunteers, the event is organized by Shirley Mitchell, director of the Athol Royalston Regional School District’s Family & Community Center. The superintendent said the event is held without cost to the school district.

“Shirley does it all through the community,” he said. “She doesn’t really budget for all of these things. She organizes and then all of our partners come in and make this possible. It really is a fabulous, whole community event.”

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