The Lawrence Hopewell Trail held bike rides on Sunday geared toward young children who were unable to participate in The Super Moon Ride.
LAWRENCE - The first annual "Trail and Treat" event Sunday on the Lawrence Hopewell Trail brought Halloween and the outdoors together for local youngsters with a family bicycling event.
"We wanted to do an event that caters to children," Lawrence Hopewell Trail co-president Becky Taylor said. "We started the Super Moon Ride last year but it was too late for young children so two moms thought the Trail and Treat idea would be really cool."
The two moms behind the idea were Lindsey Bohra - mother of two daughters, 14 and 17, and an 11-year-old son - and Jill Young - mother of 7-year-old twin daughters and a 5-year-old son.
"We kept having families come up to us and say 'Hey are you going to do a family ride?'" Bohra said. "The Super Moon Ride is very dark, it's late."
The Super Moon Ride - held this year on Aug. 29 at 9 p.m. - only allowed for participants 12 years and older to enter, so families with young children were left out, Young and Bohra said.
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The "Trail and Treat" event took place from 4 and 6 p.m. at the Bergen Street entrance of the trail with two separate rides.
Young said the first ride offered a short course and was geared toward beginners and children "still using training wheels."
The second ride was for slightly more experienced bicyclists who would ride 1.3 miles.
"This is really geared for kids 3 to 12," Bohra said.
Bohra also said a main objective of the event was to get people out to the trail, which is in the last phases of construction.
"It's a different way to celebrate Halloween," Bohra said. "And we so lucked out with the weather." Sunday temperatures were in the mid to low 60s.
The event was sponsored by local businesses. Event Organizer Jenn Nolty said Shop and Stop at the Hopewell Crossing Shopping Center in Pennington donated healthy food snacks such as granola bars that children would get at the end of the ride.
"Because of Shop and Stop, I was then able to get other sponsors," Nolty said. "They were so generous and they gave me the fuel to keep asking other businesses."
Store Manager Alan Sunday said the company donates to many local events and they "had to come out for the first annual Trail and Treat."
"We're so happy to be a part of the first annual Trail and Treat," Sunday said. "And I told them we would help next year too. The first one is always a learning experience."
Nolty was at the ride with her 8-year-old triplets Erik, Luke and Julia Nolty, who participated in the 1.3 mile ride.
"I come to the trail a lot," Julia Nolty said. With her face painted for the ride, she added she is going to be a vampire for Halloween.
Titusville resident Theresa Lawton with 7-year-old daughter Lily also waited for the second ride on Sunday.
"We ride on the LHT all the time," Lawton said. "We go to enjoy the fresh air."
Along with snacks for the children, Princeton's School of Rock provided the live music for the event.
Lindsay Rittenhouse may be reached at lrittenhouse@njadvancemedia.com. Find NJ.com on Facebook.