UPDATED SEP 15, 2022
A longtime Benton Festival is coming back with a little help from some friends. We thought Spook City, the community Halloween carnival, would not happen in downtown Benton this year, but plans changed – and also the name of the event changed and will no longer be called Spook City.
Hurricane Creek Federal Credit Union announced that they will “resurrect” the beloved downtown Benton event. They’re giving it a new name to – Ghost!TOWN. It will take place on Thursday, October 20th from 5:30 – 8:30 p.m.
According to the credit union’s announcement, “This event will provide a safe family atmosphere for all of the little ghost, goblins, super heroes, and princesses to trick or treat in beautiful Downtown Benton!”
There will be a DJ playing music, food trucks, and booths with lots of candy. If you have a business and would like information about sponsoring and/or setting up a booth, send an email to [email protected] .
See the list of Halloween & Harvest events, and submit your own at www.mysaline.com/october
PREVIOUSLY – AUG 12, 2022
Spook City organizers haven’t held the event in a while, and it looks like it won’t be this year either. Jennifer Donnor, owner of The Oil Shop, has been one of the main organizers over the past few years. She said that business owners have tried to get the parts together to make it happen.
The main issue is that the nature of being a business owner is having to devote all your time and effort to the business. “There aren’t enough volunteers,” said Jennifer. “And even if people step up, there has to be a point person that manages everything.”
I asked her if there was someone who wanted to be that point person, and they knew how to organize events, who would they contact? She said that people don’t understand how much time and how many people it takes to organize an event like this. But if someone really thinks they can do it, Jennifer said, “we have all the stuff,” and they can contact her, or go to see Kevin at Paradise Pets.
Spook City is/was an annual event that normally includes dozens of booths to hand out candy to kids dressed in costumes, asking with other festivities.