Ravenna – Three little voices sweetly chirped Trick-or-Treat! from the back seat holding their Halloween bags out the car window, excitedly hoping for candy to add to their growing collection. Lily, 8, dressed as Rapunzel and Sophia, 6, a dancer sang Yay! and Thank you! in unison as their tiny sister Una, 2, Princess Poppy from Trolls, dropped a Lollipop stick in her car seat to look at the new goodies a lady dressed as a Taco was handing her. The Bennett girls and their Mother, Rachel were attending Ravenna’s first ever Halloween Drive Thru.
On Saturday, October 31st the actual day of All Hallows Eve, sun shined down on City Park as over 300 people attended. Judy Watkins, Director of Parks and Recreation, explained the idea for the Drive Thru evolved out of trying to think up a logistically acceptably way to have an event that would honor social distancing protocols. “It is for parents who wanted their kids to enjoy Halloween, but don’t want to go door-to-door.”
Judy and her husband David dressed as Carol and Joe Exotic from the Netflix series “Tiger King.” With a cage and stuffed Lion as props representing the show, they passed out bags of goodies and directed traffic toward the next station. Judy said pre-registration was organized for families to come at certain time frames between 10am and 2pm to avoid over-crowding.
Haunting eyes leered out the window as a creepy voice slowly said c-a-n-d-y…. while Bat Girl drove. The voice in the back had come from a Carnival Clown with bright orangish-pink pigtails, named Avea Campbell, 9. “My Nana (Carmen Parfitt) did my make up. She is awesome at that!”
Avea like so many of the other children that got to partake in the revelry was enthusiastic. She was great at not breaking from the character of the Evil Clown she portrayed. “Having a huge bag of candy” was her favorite part of the day.
About 35-40 vehicles every 30-minutes meandered around the park to each of the stations set up along the way. The combination of local departments, organizations, businesses and community leaders represented a cohesive effort to maintain a semblance of holiday spirit.
A werewolf, witches, and Anime characters were all some of the outstanding costumes donned by volunteers. Rooty, the A&W bear mascot, gave out free root beer coupons and suckers. Christina West of the Ravenna City Council, who was dressed as a Banana, cheerfully said, “We get to pass out the cool bags with all the free stuff sponsors have donated.”
Jeff Davis, manager of the Ravenna 7 movie theater provided large cinema size snacks. Alison Shelley, Children’s Outreach Coordinator for Reed Memorial Library, gave out books for different ages, library swag bracelets and card holders.
Randi Clites, a candidate running for a 2nd term as State Representative, dressed as a Mummy and passed out campaign cups with a water bottle and Kool-Aid packet. As an alternative for those who couldn’t have sweets she had Play-Dough and dog treats for any little friends who happened to be wagging their tails. The little girl dressed as a DJ with a turntable was her favorite costume.
At the start of the trail each car received a list of riddles to solve for chance at raffle prizes donated by Dairy Queen. Sponsors got to have their names included in the questions for example: “Penney’s Auto Body is working hard to fix a damaged jack-o-lantern from Battlegrounds Game Center. What should they use? Answer: Pumpkin Patch. Now tell me that’s not funny!!!
Tesa Ross, a Board of Parks and Recreation member, was the Black Witch in the crinoline skirt at the end of the route. The feedback they were hearing was terrific she said with a smile in her eyes. “Parents and kids are loving it, and everybody has said they want it again next year!”
Lori Fields brought her daughters JayLynn, 13, dressed as Harry Potter and JayLa, 12, a character from the horror movie “Us.” Providing an idea of normalcy via some form of celebrating Halloween was vital for her family. “Keeping kids active is important.”
The girls were please to get some of their favorites Cookies ‘n’ Creme Hershey Bars and milk chocolate M&Ms.
The beef taco lady in a sombrero was Sabrina Christian-Bennett who is running for re-election in the County Commissioner office. She pointed out the Drive Thru is an excellent alternative not just because of COVID-19, but because there are parents with physical limitations such as walking or breathing. This can prevent them from being a part of creating valuable childhood memories.
Overall, it was a major success thanks to the teamwork of all involved and the blessing of a perfect Fall day with crisp colorful leaves floating down.
