Spooktacular is this weekend

By Jessica Coleman
Staff Writer
    It is October, and that means the creepy, the crawly, and the downright terrifying are out to play in the form of fall fun and Halloween festivities. One of Jackson County’s most prominent fall shindigs is the Brackenridge Main Event Center’s Spooktacular Trail and Carnival, held at Texana Park’s day use area.
    The event is separated into two distinct sections – one scary, one cheerful, in the interest of providing an environment that is fun for everyone without parents having to fear their children will not enjoy the experience.
    “We’ve gotten some negative feedback about our haunters from the trail coming out onto the carnival area where the kids are,” said Cammie Pearson, Brackenridge Recreation Complex manager. “That could be a negative experience because some kids don’t want to see scary.”
    The event will feature a pumpkin decorating contest, a costume contest for the kids, carnival and hayrides with a fun theme. The haunted trail will be available for those who like a spookier celebration.
    The trail was canceled last year because of rain, so this year’s haunted trail promises to be extra scary, because Brenda Coulter and her team have had two years to work on it.
    “Brenda takes over responsibility for the trail,” laughed Pearson, “She’s kind of our creative-genius-slash-crazy-person.”
    Coulter said last year’s trail was set to add many features, which the public never got to enjoy, so she just kept adding this year.
    “We added so much last year,” she said, “which we didn’t get to use because of the weather, so we have all that new stuff, plus we added more this year. It’s going to be awesome.”
    The costume contest is set to begin at 6 p.m., followed by the carnival and trail at 7 p.m. The pumpkin decorating contest will begin at 7:30 p.m.