Over 150 cars on display at Grand Teton Mall for first-ever trunk or treat event

IDAHO FALLS – A Boise-based company will have a variety of cars on display at the Grand Teton Mall in Idaho Falls for the first-ever trunk or treat car show.

Trace Carson, owner of Track Shark, one of Idaho’s premier car show creators, is partnering with Apex Idaho, a promoter of drift and racing events throughout the state, to host the Idaho Falls show.

It will kick off at 4 p.m. About 150 cars will be on display inside and outside of the mall, some of which will be decked out in Halloween decor. There will be many different types of vehicles, including exotic, European and Japanese makes and models.

Those who attend can dress up in costumes as they walk to each vehicle for candy. Awards will be given for the best costume. Participants can also get behind the wheel of a simulator and compete in a race for prizes.

“We’ll do our costume contest and awards about 6:30 or 7,” Carson tells EastIdahoNews.com.

Cars will be on display until closing time, which is 8 p.m.

A car on display in front of Dillard’s. | Courtesy Trace Carson

Carson, 26, hosted a similar event in Boise this spring. Hundreds of cars were part of a show at the Boise Towne Square Mall. Between three and 4,000 people attended.

“We had seen a few car clubs on the east coast do a similar show style. As the Treasure Valley grows, everyone is doing more and more car shows, and I was like, ‘Alright, we’ve got to set ourselves apart. What do we do next?’ It was a long shot, but we asked the mall if they wanted us to throw a show (and that’s how it came about),” says Carson.

The management team at the Grand Teton Mall got wind of that event and invited Carson to bring his show to Idaho Falls for Halloween.

Carson started the company about five or six years ago after working as a car salesman. His passion for cars inspired him to become a car photographer. That evolved into hosting track races and other events and Track Shark was born.

“We started throwing some little meets here and there. It exploded during COVID because there was nothing else going on. We held all these outdoor shows, and they gradually got bigger and bigger — thousands of people coming out, tons of cars. It was a good era for the car scene,” he says.

Sharkfest is now the company’s flagship show every year. It includes drifting, burnout and rev contests, food, live music and raffles.

Carson hopes he can host similar events like this in eastern Idaho in the future.

“We love doing them because they’re super unique and super fun. We’ll see how this one goes because it’s our first eastern Idaho event. If people like it and want us to come back, we’ll come back,” he says.

The trunk or treat car show is free to anyone who wants to attend. There’s a $20 fee at the gate for anyone who wants to have a car in the show.