Beginning in 2015, Mayland Community College’s early Halloween festival, Spooktacular, has welcomed children. The inspiration behind Spooktacular was that, as the college’s tri-county service area is predominantly rural, the Spruce Pine campus would serve as a safe and festive “neighborhood” for trick-or-treaters to travel through.
Starting in the Phillips Building, then winding through the two floors of Gwaltney Hall and then across to the Health Sciences Building, costumed kids and their parents entered different “stations,” each sponsored by the various departments at the college. This year’s stops included a mod, hippie lounge; a short journey through Jurassic Park; a garden with living human gnomes and insects, and a visit to the Scooby-Doo Mystery Machine.
Staff and faculty at the college worked the stations, wearing their own themed disguises, including Student Services personnel decked out in full dinosaur costumes for the Jurassic Park environment. At each stop, the steady stream of goblins, fairy princesses, and scarecrows would have candy or small toys dropped into their buckets or bags. Within Spooktacular’s two hours, an estimated 500 parents and children toured the college.
A great part of Spooktacular’s success is due to Mayland’s president, John Boyd, who will be retiring from his position in January. Boyd has been a supporter of this pre-Halloween party and was inescapable this year as a bright red character (part devil and part air dancer), standing at the door to thank attendees for coming.
The unstated hope at Mayland is that the children, touring the institution with their parents, will eventually come back to take classes in the future.
“Spooktacular allows families to visit the college and to learn more about what Mayland can offer beyond candy and costumes,” humanities professor Elizabeth Hardy said. “Even if Batman and Cookie Monster don’t attend Mayland as students someday, we hope they will see how much the college cares about our community.”
Although Spooktacular is a Mayland event, it invited community partners to participate, including the new YMCA and the event’s friendly Spruce Pine rival, Hilloween, which set up a table to gift trick-or-treaters with new books.
“This is a wonderful opportunity to get literature into children’s hands,” Hilloween volunteer Beverly Askew said.
Outside the college’s buildings, kids were welcomed to go on a hayride tour of the campus, while, for the first time, their parents could explore dinner options at several food trucks in the parking lot.