The streets in Bunnell's Sawmill Estates subdivision will be packed Friday night with kids looking for tricks and treats.

And Ron Hall is ready for them and the long night.

“It's a big deal here. We get a thousand, 1,200 trick-or-treaters every year,” Hall said.

The city has provided lighting, traffic control and even portable bathrooms in years past.

But all special event funding was cut this summer as city leaders had to find a way to fix a financial mess the Flagler County city was in. The city was nearly $1 million in the red.

Mari Molina is one of two business owners who decided this event was too big not to have that extra protection, so she decided to help foot the bill.

"People don't know you need something until you tell them," Molina said. "And that's what I found happened with the Christmas and the new festival."

But she didn't stop with Halloween, though.

Molina's now working to find funding to keep the popular Christmas Hayride and the city's Potato Festival in the spring. However, she's looking at expanding that to highlight all agribusiness in the county.

Will this year's Christmas celebration be as lavish as last year, complete with a snow-making machine? Probably not, because last year's event was the last in a year-long centennial celebration. But at least Molina has the most important guest lined up.

“We have Santa Claus," Molina said. "We have people that are going to donate the chocolate and the hot chocolate and the cookies. So, it'll happen.”

Molina is now rushing to finish a grant proposal to help pay for everything, which is due Friday, along with keeping her nonprofit cat rescue moving forward.