Halloween Festival And Haunted Hike At Bird Sanctuary

2007-11-23 / Community

Garden City High School HOPE Volunteers helped set up and run the Haunted HikeThe highly successful Halloween Festival and Haunted Hike instituted a new annual event at the community nature preserve. Thanks to cooperative Sunday weather and great help from Garden City High School's HOPE Club, Adelphi's Environmental Action Coalition Club, GCBS Directors, Marty Lenahan, Claire Werner, Tom Vita, and the Kate Murray with the Town of Hempstead, the Bird Sanctuary event went even better than hoped for. This was a multi-scale cooperative community effort to plan a fun-filled Halloween festival and Haunted Hike to help raise funds for watering and maintenance at the Bird Sanctuary. The Town of Hempstead provided a large lighting system under the capable operation of Nino so the meadow was safely lit as darkness came and the Haunted Hike began. Claire Werner scoured stores and garage sales to find many needed props and decorations, Marty Lenahan donated his time to set up a hot dog stand and coffee bar and provided much help with organizing the event and publicizing it to girl and boy scout troops. Tom Vita donated a large generator and photo displays. Thanks also to Suzie and Alexis Alvey, Lee Giradi, and GCBS Directors June Fay, Joe Giacinto, and John Cronin for much appreciated assistance.

Everyone loved the costume contest at the Bird SanctuaryThe total attendance for the event was nearly 200 and the sunny afternoon was a blessing. H.O.P.E. members Michelle Velez and Suzanne Tomitz, dressed in haunted costumes, greeted visitors at the sign-in table. Guests participated in various creative games and crafts such as face painting, pumpkin decorating, Create-a-Monster, balloon animals, mystery boxes, the Halloween Bean Bag toss, and Mask-Making. The children also received their very own reusable cloth bags to decorate in order to use environmentally friendly alternatives to waste-generating paper or plastic bags. Potato sack races were another hit on this beautiful fall afternoon. Little princesses, ghosts, witches, and army men alike were thrilled with the Costume Parade and Contest run by Emily Werner and Elizabeth Blatz. Prizes of books, Halloween party favors, bubbles, and picture frames were given to the top five winners. Each additional contestant was awarded small toys, as well as their own personalized certificate.

The Bird Sanctuary's first Halloween Festival was a wonderful success in that it provided young children with a fun way to learn about environmental issues. Many parents and H.O.P.E. members alike expressed their wishes to continue this spooky fundraiser as an annual event. The entry donation was purposely low to bring in more folks from the community, yet the event raised over $1,000 for the Bird Sanctuary, and brought many people to the 9-acre site for the first time. President Rob Alvey remarked that this was a significant success for the first time event and the Directors would be pleased to make it an annual program for the community.

Cleaning the toxic spillOnce the sun began to set and visitors had already had their fill of hot dogs, desserts, and hot chocolate, the Haunted Hike commenced. The Haunted Hike was a hit as environmental themes were presented. Trail guides Amanda Efthimiou, Brian Way, and Brian Plaut each led the guests through this spooky walk around the Bird Sanctuary's lower basin. The hike, which took a great deal of planning by the H.O.P.E. members, was a wonderful hit with its environmentally themed scary stations, including a radioactive site with mutants, an evil trash heap, and killer invasive vines. A witch welcomed the hikers, but offered water no-one wanted to drink since she explained that much of it has been contaminated and most of the world's water is too salty to drink. The Weed Wizard- compliments of The Nature Conservancy, stopped hikers in Gandalf style, scolding them for allowing exotic invasive plants and animals to be spread across the country, and inviting them to be eaten by Audrey II, a new vine he's developing to fight back. The High School's theater department, headed by Mr. Stephen Mayo, graciously allowed Gemma Donofrio and Caitlin Crowley to borrow Audrey II, the giant plant from the play "Little Shop of Horrors." High School students warned hikers to keep on the trail, as they cleaned up a toxic, radioactive spill. Meanwhile, a talking trash heap, zombies, a graveyard, and even bench-sitting Frankenstein spooked the hikers. Along the trail, there were also plenty of ghosts and ghouls running about. A haunted graveyard, designed by H.O.P.E. was particularly frightening because of its zombies, Kristen McElroy and Taylor Papa.

Pumpkin painting at the Halloween FestivalWith the colder weather, the Bird Sanctuary is closing for the winter, but can still be visited by appointment and the 2008 membership drive is underway. Family membership is only $35 per family. For more information, contact Rob Alvey at 326-1720 or e-mail the Bird Sanctuary at gcbirdsanctuary@gmail.com .