As Halloween night descends on Sweetwater, so do the people.
"Once a year, Halloween, it's a huge deal," resident Brent Miller said. "It started out with a couple of hundred, over the years, now it's become a couple thousand."
Thousands of people donning masks and costumes blocked off historic Mayes Avenue for a block party that's been decades in the making. The sheer amount of thrills felt matched the amount of candy being handed out.
"Everybody knows Sweetwater's the place to be," Miller said.
Fred Camp's front-yard-turned-haunted maze was a big hit.
"It's fun, and we get the family together," Camp said.
Camp, who teaches Science at Lenoir City High School, said it's about community.
"A lot of this we've been building up for 25 years," said Camp.
Camp is a huge fan of monsters and has been spreading out the costs of building the maze for years—continuing to build it up little by little each year. This year he did some scaring himself by wielding a chainsaw inside the maze.
"I'm just a universal monster fan," Camp said.
Miller has been enjoying it for years.
"Everybody looks forward to it every year," Miller said. "All the kids, some of them get bussed in sometimes out of town."
The kids especially enjoyed it, particularly when they organized a group dance to Michael Jackson's smash hit "Thriller."
"Well, we just like doing it for the community," Camp said. "It's safe. People say they like coming to the Mayes Avenue community because it's safe."
The community has rallied together to make Halloween night a treat every year. And as far as candy - one Sweetwater resident said her church kicked in this year to buy about 12,000 pieces of candy.