For one evening each October, the parking lot outside the Monongalia County Health Department stops being a place where people come for shots, screenings and permits and becomes a place where they come for candy. On Thursday, Oct. 22, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m., the department holds its Trunk-or-Treat outside its main building at 453 Van Voorhis Road in Morgantown — a free, open-to-the-public evening of decorated vehicles, costumed kids and, in keeping with the host, a fair amount of unsolicited advice about dental hygiene.
The format is the familiar one: instead of knocking on doors, children in costume move from car to car in a parking lot, collecting treats from open trunks. For parents, it removes two of Halloween's recurring worries at once — dark streets and unfamiliar doorsteps — and puts the whole outing inside a lit, contained space where the people handing out candy are colleagues and neighbors rather than strangers.
This year's edition has grown. The list of participating businesses and agencies now includes WVU Medicine, Vandalia Health, the WVU School of Health, United Bank and Texas Roadhouse, alongside health department staffers handing out candy and, yes, toothbrushes. And for the first time, a DJ will be on hand to set the mood and keep spirits high — spooky ones included.
The event also carries a quieter message about who Halloween leaves out. Jason Nguyen, a nutritionist with MCHD's Women, Infants and Children program, points families toward the Teal Pumpkin Project, the Food Allergy Research & Education campaign in which a teal pumpkin signals that non-food treats are available. At the health department's event, that means teal pumpkins and non-food prizes sit alongside the candy, so children with food allergies can fill a bag without having to refuse a handful of sweets or explain their diagnosis at every stop.
The project's origins are modest and, fittingly, tied to a trunk-or-treat. In 2012, Becky Basalone — who had recently founded the Food Allergy Community of East Tennessee, a support group affiliated with the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America — painted a pumpkin teal as part of her family's decorations for a local allergist's trunk-or-treat event. She brought along a scarecrow, a bucket of non-food treats and contact cards for her group. When the family got home, her five-year-old son set the teal pumpkin on the porch with the other decorations and put the bowl of non-food items — slime, silly glasses and similar gag gifts — next to the bowl of candy. On Halloween night, he held up both bowls and asked visitors whether they wanted "tricks" or "treats." The tricks proved more popular than the candy. The idea spread through the support group's network, and FARE took it national two years later. It has since become one of the most recognizable symbols of the holiday.
That a trunk-or-treat helped launch the teal pumpkin movement is a nice bit of symmetry for an event like this one, which is as much a public-health demonstration as a party. Because the host is the health department, the evening doubles as a soft-sell safety briefing. The department's guidance for the season is straightforward: costumes should be flame resistant and carry bright or reflective features, whether built in or added with strips of tape; hats and masks should not block a child's view; and any makeup should be tested on a small patch of arm first. Decorative contact lenses, the department warns, can cause eye injuries and should be avoided entirely.
There is also the matter of the loot itself. The advice is to eat a nutritious snack before heading out — hunger makes fun-size candy bars and small bags of Skittles hard to resist — and then to wait until everyone is home and the haul can be inspected under bright light before anything is eaten. For parties and classroom treats, the department suggests skipping peanuts and peanut butter, given how common allergies are. And for very young children, choking hazards such as gum, hard candy and small toys should be kept out of the approved pile.
Then there is the dentistry. MCHD is home to MCHD Dentistry, and its staff are not going to let a parking lot full of candy pass without comment. Their guidance is not abstinence but moderation, and a few practical trade-offs: sticky and sour candies and long-lasting gummies are the worst offenders, since sour candies are high in dietary acids that attack enamel and gummies linger against teeth. Chocolate, comparatively, is the better bet — dark chocolate especially, because it contains less cavity-causing sugar — and sugar-free gum beats the sugary kind.
This year's event also marks a turning point for the building it is held outside. The department says this will be the last year it holds Trunk-or-Treat at its old location. The history there runs deep: the Monongalia County Health Department was established in 1929 and began life in the basement of the Monongalia County Courthouse, moving between quarters before settling into the building at 453 Van Voorhis Road — a $1.259 million facility dedicated on Sept. 13, 1975. In September 2025 the department marked 50 years at that address, even as its leadership began searching for a more modern home.
That search has since concluded. In May 2026, the Monongalia County Commission accepted a $6 million bid from WVU Hospitals for the roughly 2.25 acres at the corner of Van Voorhis Road and Elmer Prince Drive, comprising three parcels that include the health department building and the neighboring WIC building; WVU Hospitals has said the property will support expansion of its Evansdale campus, and the county arranged to lease the building back so the department can stay until it relocates. The new home is White Birch Towers off Pineview Drive, where the department will occupy more than 55,000 square feet — enough for a full dental clinic, medical exam rooms and the rest of its services, with room to grow — and where it will be reunited under one roof with the county WIC office for the first time since a February 2025 move. The phased relocation is scheduled to run through July 1, 2027.
So the 2026 Trunk-or-Treat is a farewell of sorts to a parking lot that has served the county for half a century. It is also, in the department's own framing, an invitation: come in costume, bring a bag, get some candy, maybe take a toothbrush, and let someone else worry about the traffic for an evening. The event runs 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 22, at 453 Van Voorhis Road, and all are invited.