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Rushworth's Halloween event draws hundreds, plans for annual celebration

By Jaci Hicken

Nov 11, 2025

Re-Grow Rushworth's Halloween event in Rushworth exceeded expectations, drawing between 300 and 400 people from various towns in the region. Photos: Contributed

Re-Grow Rushworth's Halloween event exceeded all expectations, drawing hundreds of families from across the region to the town on October 31.

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Re-Grow Rushworth president Robbie Wilson said the community group initially expected a modest turnout.

“For Halloween, we thought we would have about 20 or 30 people, but we had much more,” Mr Wilson said.

“We spoke with council and we got a temporary permit to have a Halloween party on the green in Rushworth and we expected maybe between 30 and 50 people.”

Instead, between 300 and 400 people attended from towns including Kyabram, Shepparton, Tatura, Stanhope and Murchison.

“We only advertised on Facebook, but obviously, word got out,” Mr Wilson said.

The event featured a scary cave with monsters and goblins for children to explore, along with trick-or-treating activities.

“We had games for them as well,” Mr Wilson said.

“We had the SES with the barbecue and we had the fire brigade with the kids climbing in and having a look at the fire truck.”

Mr Wilson described it as “a fair family evening, which is what we intended it to be”.

The event featured a scary cave, trick-or-treating activities, games for children and involvement from local emergency services like the SES and fire brigade.

The initiative aims to integrate newcomers into the Rushworth community, fostering a sense of belonging and inclusivity.

The success has prompted plans for an annual event.

“We are going to apply to be able to do an annual event, for each year from now on,” he said.

“We will seek some funding for it next year. This year, we did it on a very, very limited budget.”

The initiative aims to welcome newcomers to Rushworth.

“Rushworth has got a lot of new people moving in and they come from all different places,” Mr Wilson said.

“We have decided we want them to be part of the community and make them feel part of our community.

“We have five members on the board of Re-Grow Rushworth and the others are full of great ideas and it is wonderful to watch them, like watching Halloween come together, it was amazing.”