Children of all ages and sizes, from Central and South Eleuthera were out at the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve on Saturday night, October 28th, for Spooktacular 2023, sporting a number of costumed ensembles, from the fairy tales to the frightening.
The annual event, making a comeback after the years of pandemic, saw new Preserve Manager, Lakeisha Wallace, partner with volunteers from The Island School. The night was filled with delicious food and treats, scary adventure along an imaginatively decorated fright trail, and a kiddies costume fashion faceoff.
Describing the evening of spooky fun and thrills, at the national park, Ms. Wallace commented, saying, “Tonight was fantastic! There were a lot of screams, a lot of scares – the dance, and everyone is happy, so it went excellently. We expected about 100 kids, and we had closer to 150. We had volunteers that helped make it all happen, including The Island School that helped out – also some of our community members, and of course our staff. We had our haunted trail, a kiddies costume competition, our first-ever Spooktacular dance, also a photo booth, and a 360-spin. A lot of fun for the kids tonight.”
The kiddies costume competition was ajudged via the loudest cheering and hand-clapping of the seated audience, beneath the outdoor pavilion at The Preserve – which decided the top costumes in both the boys and girls categories, with a special prize for each winner. Many parents were also at the event this year, who sat back and relaxed, as their excited off-spring experienced the night of family-friendly, spooky fun.
