 "Photo: Ken Muir")
Witches, goblins and ghouls wandered the grounds of the National Ranching Heritage Center on Friday.
The Ranching Center hosted the Third Annual Heritage Halloween Friday. Heritage Halloween is an event for all ages to dress up in their Halloween best and visit the historical park to trick or treat, learn how to rope, make cornhusk dolls, or take a hayride.
Emily Arellano, manager of education program for the National Ranching Heritage Center and Tech alumna, said the idea of the event originated from the historical structures in the park.
“We have houses out there, so it was kind of a natural thing to do,” she said.
Arellano said through the event, children are be able to learn about the origins of different candy. Each historic building had treats that are period correct for the time period the building came. For example, Super Bubble bubblegum, established in 1948, was passed out at the Pitchfork Cookhouse, which is a building from the 1950s.
A cake walk, fall crafts, stick-horse races, hayrides through the park and traditional demonstrations of taffy pulling by the center’s volunteers were also available at the Halloween festival.
Members of the Tech Rodeo team taught children how to “rope dummies,” which were bales of hay used to portray calves, and supervising stick-horse races.
Tye Jones, a Tech Rodeo member, could be seen at the festival with his lasso, instructing children on roping. Jones, a junior in agriculture economics and business administration major from Levelland, said this was his first time to help out he was more than do so.
“We think it’s great,” Jones said, “and it’s a good thing for the kids instead of having to go out to trick or treat.”
Arellano said the event has continued because of the community’s positive response. For example, 3,200 people were counted as attending Heritage Halloween last year.
A parent of one of the trick-or-treaters from Frenship, Tracy Bunting, said her daughter had just arrived to Heritage Halloween from school. She considers the event to be safe and she didn’t have to worry about her child, going missing if she ran off.
Bunting said the center provides a Halloween event that is educational as well as safe.
“The kids learn a lot here,” she said. “You don’t think they do but they do.”
Bunting said, while her child was riding the hayride through the park, her daughter was happy to come to the festival and is particularly looking forward to seeing the taffy pulling.
Candy wasn’t the only thing being passed out at the Halloween festival. Kool Smiles dentistry also was at Heritage Halloween handing out toothbrushes and educating children on oral health care. Allison Martin, community relations specialist for Lubbock’s Kool Smiles, said the dentistry is always promoting healthy smiles, even during Halloween.
“We give out anything that is non-food,” Martin said. “We don’t give out candy at all. We just want to remind people to brush their teeth.”
She said this was her second year to attend the event for her dentistry and she was glad to be back. She said the event is beneficial to the community because she believes everyone is enjoying Heritage Halloween.
The president of the Tech Rodeo Association, Erica Creswell, said this was her second year of volunteering at Heritage Halloween. Creswell, a senior in psychology from Weatherford, Okla., said she supports the event because it gives a safe alternative for trick-or-treaters as well as the children’s reactions.
“I think the little kids really enjoy it,” Creswell said, “and they learn a little bit of history.”
Be the first to comment on this article!