Story and Video: 6th Annual Boo at the Barn a scary good time
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ST. CLAIRSVILLE - Waiting until Halloween to go trick or treating was not necessary at the Belmont County Fairgrounds.
The sixth annual “Boo at the Barn” hosted by the Belmont Soil and Water Conservation District took over the fairgrounds Tuesday evening, with the purpose of educating along with trick or treating.
"It’s not just candy, you can come do crafts, make a s’more, there is a bat cave behind the Wise Building that you can crawl through, and a spider web," Agriculture and Education Specialist Samantha Hearn said while talking about the event. "It’s a lot more than just walking to tables to get candy. You can learn a whole lot and take a whole lot more goodies home."
Various challenges were placed around the fairground, such as a spider web obstacle course where children had to climb through ropes as if they were a bug escaping the woven silk from a spider.
In addition to the Belmont County Animal Shelter, Cat Stray Shun had several dogs dressed up in Halloween outfits for children to play with.
The booth had various goodies such as candy, spider rings and coloring pages of Jersey, the Belmont County Courthouse’s well-known therapy dog.
All of the dogs were available for adoption, as well as several other dogs and cats through the Belmont County Animal Shelter.
Hearn said the event was originally known as Boo at the Bike Trail, but outgrew the St. Clairsville Bike Trial and moved to the fairgrounds to let it grow.
About 600 people attended last year’s “boo” and expected a similar outcome for this year’s event.
"We’re expecting to have at least that again this year, but every year we get more organizations that are aware of it," Hearn said. "This year, the bookmobile contacted us and asked us if they could come because they knew about the event. So it's growing not only with people but organizations as well."
This year's event saw the Oglebay Good Zoo bring multiple nocturnal animals shown to the children and parents in attendance.
Hearn said because Belmont County is a conservation district, one of Belmont Soil and Water Conservation District jobs is to help protect wildlife. She said the event is an effort to inform residents about wildlife along with having fun.
The event was sponsored by EQT, who gave Belmont Soil and Water Conservation District $1,000 so they could host Tuesday's event.
"We couldn’t have done it without them," Hearn said.
Belmont Savings donated the candy bags, she added.
St. Clairville Library, the Ohio Valley Mall, Belmont County Farm Bureau, Belmont County District Library's book mobile, Olney Friends School, Ohio University Eastern Rural Teacher Corps, Bellaire Public Library, and various other local and regional organizations were handing out candy to the children in attendance.
Hearn said she hopes the event continues to grow bigger and better each year.