Te Puke Treat Trail to go online

Logan (left) and Torsen Anger in their Minecraft costumes, Steve and Zombie.

Covid-19 alert level restrictions have scuppered EPIC Te Puke's plans for a treat trail around the town next week.

But that doesn't mean all is lost.

The annual trail was due to take place on October 29 but instead of winding its way around the CBD, the event has moved into cyberspace.

''We will have to run it under level 2 [restrictions], '' says EPIC Te Puke manager Rebecca Larsen, ''so unfortunately there won't be any trick or treating in town.''

Businesses around town are still being encouraged to decorate their premises and the costume competition will go online.

With a theme of 'online gaming', everyone is encouraged to post pictures of their homemade costumes on to the EPIC Te Puke Community Facebook page.

''We'll print them off and they will be on display in the library,'' says Rebecca.

There will be prizes for those judged to be the best - buckets of goodies from Conway and Carpenter, Te Puke Paper Plus, Countdown and McDonald's.

Rebecca stresses that only handmade costumes will be eligible for prizes. Business owners will also be eligible for prizes for their decorations.

EPIC Te Puke has received Creative Communities Grant for the event.

The next event on the calendar for EPIC Te Puke will be a town clean-up on November 3.

Rebecca says she is confident the event can go ahead and meet alert level 2 requirements.

Starting by registering at The Hub Te Puke from 3pm, people will be given an area to clean up and will be asked to take their rubbish and recycling to The Daily Cafe for sorting - and to grab a slice of pizza.

Being held slightly later in the day than last year means people have the option of heading down to help after work if they want.

Others, such as schools, can also take part at different times of the week and take their sorted rubbish and recycling to Te Puke Recycling centre any time during the week of the event, where it will be weighed and the amount collected recorded.

■ EPIC Te Puke will make a call on whether this year's Christmas Float Parade will go ahead three weeks before the date it is scheduled to happen - December 4. If the parade can not go ahead due to alert level restrictions, it will be replaced with a Christmas trail around decorated shops and businesses.