BRADENTON BEACH – Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Anna Maria Island Moose Lodge’s annual children’s Halloween party was a drive-thru affair this year.
From 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Saturday morning, Anna Maria Island Moose Lodge #2188 members and Moose mascot ‘Tommy the Moose’ greeted children as they remained in their vehicles and received Halloween goody bags that contained a stuffed ‘Tommy the Moose’ toy, snacks, candy, Halloween stickers, Kool-Aid Ghoul-Aid Scary Berry juice, miniature games and Mardi Gras beads.
Moose Lodge Senior Regent Bonnie Dubin helped organize the drive-thru event for the children and grandchildren of Moose Lodge members.
“We couldn’t do our usual Halloween party, so we’re doing a drive-thru. They pull up, get their goody bag and a picture with Tommy the Moose. We’ve had a fairly steady crowd, so we’re happy,” Dubin said Saturday morning.
“Our Women of the Moose are doing a phenomenal job. Bonnie is the senior regent in charge and this is another great job by the women,” lodge administrator Byron Dalton said.
As of 10 a.m., Dalton estimated approximately 75 children had passed through the drive-thru trick or treat line.
“We’ve even given some bags to some adults who looked like they needed some sugar,” he joked.
Regarding the annual Moose kids’ annual Christmas party, Dalton said, “If we still have this problem with COVID, we’ll do a drive-thru at Christmas too. We have a member who has a sleigh.”
As he and his mom passed through the line, young Des Moines, Iowa resident Drew Dickson said, “We’re on vacation.”
“We missed Beggar’s Night in Des Moines last night,” Drew’s mom, Dana Dickson, said of the annual pre-Halloween celebration that takes place in their hometown community.
“We’re leaving tomorrow. We’ve been here a week and it’s been great. I think we want to move here,” she said.
Moose members Mark and Debbie Johnson drove their grandson Benjamin Rounds –dressed as Benjamin Franklin – and granddaughter Addison Rounds through the trick or treat line. The youngsters were visiting from Seattle.
“We love it. Compared to doing nothing this is great,” Mark said of the Moose Lodge’s Halloween event.
General operations
Dalton said the Moose Lodge is still operating at limited capacity, in part due to the pending kitchen renovations.
“By choice, we’re still at 50% capacity and we’re doing well. We feel it’s best to protect our members and their guests at this time,” Dalton said, noting members and guests are required to wear masks when moving around inside the lodge.
“Overall we’re doing well. We could certainly do better if our kitchen was open. We’re waiting for the city to respond with our permits. We submitted a new appraisal last week and hopefully they’ll give us some good news this week,” Dalton said.
“Business is picking up and we’re beginning to see a lot of people come in from out of town and opening their homes up down here. It’s great to see our old friends coming back,” Dalton said.
Dalton anticipates the kitchen renovations taking approximately eight weeks once the permits are issued. In the meantime, the kitchen crew continues to offer a limited menu prepared outdoors on grills and other portable cooking equipment.
The lodge also had new awnings installed over the ground level beachfront patio area.
