Story Highlights
- Tri-Border Trunk-or-Treaters enjoy night of fun
- Annual signature event an international crowd pleaser
- Dutch guests experience American hospitality
SCHINNEN, Netherlands -- An international mix typical of a tri-border community that hosts numerous NATO units enjoyed a clear, cool night as Service and Family members, community volunteers and local Dutch guests scurried 'round the trunk-or-treat path Oct. 30, 5:30 to 7 p.m. here.
"Trunk or Treat" is one of the garrison's most popular annual events and attracts 1,200 or more participants from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. Dutch guests, who registered for this year's event, numbered over 200, more than double than last year.
Dozens of community organizations and volunteers from the tri-border area descended on USAG Schinnen and decorated more than 30 car trunks or booths along a path that allowed hundreds of children to enjoy candy treats and some spooky surprises.
The garrison's picnic pavilion was enclosed and converted into a haunted house and a mist-filled walk through a lake-side cemetery led costumed ghouls to a happy Dutch Ministry of Defense employee, Danny Janssen, giving away popcorn.
Janssen's spooky display won "Best Table" and the Geilenkirchen 5 & 6 Club won "Best Trunk" for their well decorated display with an international flair.
About two-thirds of USAG Schinnen's garrison staff is Dutch and, together with their U.S. counterparts, they provide base operations support to international military communities across northern Germany, northern Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland - the largest area of responsibility of any garrison in IMCOM-Europe.
The NATO Airbase in Geilenkirchen was well represented by members of the U.S. Air Force 470th Wing's Family Readiness Center and the U.S. Army's AFNORTH Battalion Family Readiness Group who supports Soldiers assigned to NATO's Joint Forces Command Headquarters in Brunssum, Netherlands.