Candy Trail to wind through Downtown Belton on Oct 25
October 27, 2025
By David Stone
The Belton Journal
This year's Downtown Belton's Candy Trails will take place from 3 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 25, and organizer Leila Valchar hopes this year's event is the biggest since its inception in 2014.
"I founded this event to bring families to downtown Belton, and it's grown tremendously over the years," said Valchar, who also is president of the DBBA and owner of My Giving Tree.
"Last year," she said, "48 businesses and organizations participated and we handed out more than 150,000 pieces of candy, and that's a conservative amount. We had streets blocked off, but we had so many families that the barricades were overflowing."
Valchar said this year's Candy Trails will include a pumpkin carving contest.
"We won't be carving pumpkins on the street — people will carve them at home and bring them down for judging," she said.
"There also will be a trophy for the most spirited booth or storefront. Greenbriar Salon has won the past three years."
In the early days of Candy Trails, costumed guests would stream through downtown businesses in search of sweet treasures, but changes came as the event grew. Today, businesses and organizations set up booths in front of stores and passed out candy from there.
“Candy Trails has become such a fun event,” Valchar stated. “I’m so proud to be the founder and see it grow. The City has been very supportive of the event.”
Valchar said she has seen many great costumes over the years, and she expects to see a lot more this year.
“I’ve seen a bunch,” she laughed. “I’ve seen creative and scary costumes. The scariest I’ve seen was a horrifying clown. It’s not just kids that dress up — there are many adults as well. I’m ready to see more amazing costumes and make-up.”











