One man was killed, and several were injured, after a large tree toppled over at a park in Pierce County where a Halloween themed fall market was taking place Saturday, according to the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office.
Officials said just after 1 p.m. multiple calls came through 911, saying a tree had cracked in half and landed on several vendor tents, trapping multiple people underneath it, at the “Haunted Witches Market” at McKenna Park in the town of Roy.
The PCSO confirmed a 31-year-old Eatonville man was killed, who had been there with his girlfriend that afternoon. There were an estimated 40 to 80 people in attendance, many of whom were families.
First responders faced a difficult challenge in assessing the injured victims, and weighing treatment, due to the remote location of the park and its distance from Pierce County hospitals.
Ultimately, three people were transported to a hospital for treatment, while approximately three others were treated on scene. The injuries ranged from serious to minor.
“It doesn’t look like whoever was standing anywhere near that tree should be able to stand here and talk to you right now,” explained Aaron Beadle, whose hot dog cart was set up right at the base of the cottonwood trees. “The images will be burned in my brain forever. That was traumatic to say the very least.”
The large tree stretched all the way into the parking lot, while crushing roughly six vendor’s tents in the process, sending their poles sticking out in every direction.
“It was a very deep sound, and there was like three of them,” said Beadle, “and you knew more was coming, and I looked up and you could see the big piece coming.”
Once the tree boomed upon the ground, witnesses said what ensued was both chaotic and frightening.
“You hear people screaming, yelling for their kids, there was a man that couldn’t find his daughter, and was just yelling her name over and over,” said Savannah Davitt with tears in her eyes.
She said she had just left her booth for jewelry and oddities, to look up after hearing what she thought was thunder. In reality, it was a towering tree that was in the process of falling right at her.
“Not sure where to run, where to move you know. You have to wait until the tree is half falling anyways to see where’s it going to land!” she said. “If I would have been 30 seconds later, I would be under the main part of the tree,” she added, still in shock.
The Tacoma business owner said that a woman she had just been talking to moments before stepping out of her tent, quickly became a part of the frantic search in the aftermath.
“That was terrifying, we were tearing the tent apart, trying to see if she was under there,” said Davitt. “She was sent to the hospital, I don’t know what condition she’s in, but I think she’s okay.”
Those same memories of springing into action, are ones that Beadle won’t soon forget.
“You know I think digging through the wreckage afterward, for people, will stand as more traumatic in my brain than the event itself.”
While Beadle and Davitt both suffered damages to their business and inventory, they were grateful for the response by paramedics, law enforcement and firefighters, and acknowledge it could have been far worse.
“My loss is nothing, like, I’ll build another hotdog cart,” the Olympia man added.
“You never think that this is going to happen to you, or around you, you see it on TV, and you think it’s dramatized, and that things like that don’t really happen, but they do,” said Davitt.
The organizer of the event faced heavy criticism online by local and county community members, who wondered why the event was still held despite the storm warnings for their region.
One of the organizers stated they have held previous events during windier and rainier days, and did not face any issues.
They have also created fundraisers for the family of the deceased, and injured victims, as well as the vendors and businesses who had their goods damaged.
The 31-year-old Eatonville man’s death at what should have been a festive Halloween market illustrates the unpredictable dangers of outdoor events during storm conditions, with tragedy striking despite organizers’ experience hosting similar gatherings.
The cottonwood tree species mentioned poses particular hazards during high winds due to weak wood structure and tendency to drop large branches or topple completely, characteristics that make cottonwoods problematic near public gathering spaces.
McKenna Park’s remote location in Roy, a small Pierce County town southeast of Tacoma, created triage challenges for first responders who faced longer transport times to trauma centers compared to urban emergencies with nearby hospital access.
The three distinct cracking sounds Beadle described indicate progressive structural failure where the tree’s wood fibers separated in stages before complete collapse, providing brief warning that proved insufficient for people to escape the fall zone.
The estimated 40 to 80 attendees at the Haunted Witches Market represents modest turnout that likely saved lives, as larger crowds would have placed more vendors and visitors in the cottonwood’s collapse path.
The six crushed vendor tents demonstrate the tree’s massive size and the concentrated impact zone where small business owners had set up their Halloween-themed merchandise, jewelry, food vendors, and craft displays.
Aaron Beadle’s hot dog cart positioning at the tree base means he witnessed the collapse from the most dangerous vantage point, his survival suggesting he moved quickly or was shielded by cart structure when the tree fell.
Savannah Davitt’s 30-second timing difference between life and death captures the randomness of disaster survival, where momentary decisions about when to step away from a booth determined who escaped injury and who became trapped.
The frantic parent searching for his daughter by repeatedly yelling her name exemplifies the terror families experienced as the festive market transformed into a disaster scene with children potentially buried under fallen timber and collapsed tents.
The online criticism of event organizers for proceeding despite storm warnings reflects broader questions about liability and decision-making protocols for outdoor gatherings when weather forecasts predict dangerous conditions.
