A Happy Haunting Uptown
October 30, 2009
By JUSTIN SCHOENBERGER
Index-Journal Staff Writer
Greenwood, SC - The streets of Uptown Greenwood were overtaken by villains, zombies and animals the size of small children Thursday night.
And members of the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office and Greenwood Police Department just stood by and watched.
- That’s because it was all part of the ninth annual Boo Bash celebration, which attracted hundreds of costume-wearing locals from dusk to nightfall to the businesses, museum and Federal Building along Main Street.
"This is great,” Karen Heery, of Greenwood, said as she walked with her 3-year-old daughter, Madisen - who was dressed as Cinderella. "It is a good place for kids to have fun in a safe environment.”
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- A grinning Cindy Waters, grandmother of a "princess,” agreed.
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Isaac Young tells a ghost story about Bloody Mary at the Greenwood Community Theatre during Boo Bash. (Staff photo by T.M. James)
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"I think it’s a really good thing for them,” she said.
Near the fountain, there were games, face-painting and tours of emergency vehicles. At the Federal Building and The Museum, there was story-telling and a haunted house, not to mention the numerous businesses in between offering candy to the passers-by.
It was several blocks of smiles, laughter and - occasional - tension.
The police and fire departments shared an edgy moment when at about 5:45 p.m. dispatch reported that a disabled car driving down Main Street near the festivities had caught fire. While no flames or smoke could be seen, a police truck had to push the car out of the roadway.
The entire affair lasted about 10 minutes.
About an hour later, event-goers were alerted over a loud speaker that an infant had been lost, but the situation was resolved shortly thereafter.
But despite the incidents, fun was still had by all.
“The kids loved it,” Gail Jones of Greenwood said. “They really did have a ball.
“There just seemed to be fewer (workers) this year — but there were as many people who came as ever.”
Fifteen-year-old Avery Reeves, of Greenwood, had a blast.
“My favorite part was the hamburger-eating contest,” he said. “It was cool to watch. It was a lot of meat.”
Almost three pounds of hamburger, actually, was eaten by the winner of the Hardee’s Thickburger eating contest — 2 3/4 Monster Thickburgers, which have two 1/2-pound burger patties apiece, were consumed in a matter of minutes.
At the end of the evening, Darryl Suber, 9, summed up what many children seemed to wear on their faces.
“My favorite part?” Darryl asked. “Oh, my favorite part was everything. I loved it.”
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