11th Spooktacular draws families
Costumed kids crammed into the library for the 11th-annual Spooktacular last Sunday.
Library event coordinator Bailley Kinser said that she’s been handling the library’s events for the past three years and it’s grown significantly in that time. This year, she said, library staff expected to see approximately 500 kids, and she was glad to see a healthy turnout.
“I’m a little Halloween crazy, so of course it’s gotten bigger,” she said.
New this year, she said, was the hayride to the event, as well as cotton candy, kettle corn and ghost photography — for which people posed, then left for a long exposure shot to create a translucent, ghost-like photo. The Bentonville-Bella Vista Altrusa Club was also on the scene, giving out books, she said.
The event, she said, has been in the works since last year.
“We were here ‘til nine o’clock last night and back at 8:30 this morning,” Kinser said. “We’ve been working on this since after the Spooktacular last year, and we’ll be hitting the Halloween clearance sales again and start getting ready for next year.”
One family that showed up had a family-themed costume, though the parents were saving theirs for Halloween. Mark and Lyndsey Randall escorted headless, ax-wielding Camden Randall, 7, through the event, standing by as he played spooky carnival games to earn candy.
“We’re enjoying it so far,” Lyndsey Randall said. “I think it’s a great thing for them to do for the community.”
Camden Randall declined to comment, pointing to the empty space one would normally occupy with his head.