Hope Therapeutic Horsemanship Center to host Halloween festivities

Many are saying Halloween is “canceled” this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but Hope Therapeutic Horsemanship Center in Perryville, Missouri, wants to keep the spooky spirit alive in Southeast Missouri.

The center will host A Haunting at the Hope Center 2020 from 7 to 10 p.m. Oct. 31 to help give the community a sense of normalcy on Halloween, said Kelly Lewis, the center’s program director.

There will be a guided walkthrough of a “haunted forest,” an outdoor showing of the movie “Hocus Pocus,” a concession stand and bonfire with s’mores, Lewis said, as well as pumpkin decorating and face painting. Family-appropriate costumes are also encouraged.

“The forest is going to be pretty intense,” Lewis said. “But we will have activities for smaller children in the indoor facility.”

There will be a minimum $10 donation required per car upon entry, and all donations go to the Hope Therapeutic Horsemanship Center.

Lewis said the center have the acreage and ability to social distance, so they wanted to offer something so people of all ages could have a “somewhat normal” Halloween.

“Because of everything with coronavirus, kids haven’t had an opportunity to keep anything somewhat normal,” Lewis said. “We want to offer something for the kids to be able to have a somewhat normal Halloween experience and still be safe, and to make it fun for people of all ages.”

Lewis said in addition to the regular Halloween experience, the center wanted to hold an event to help bring the community together.

“We were sitting around thinking about how we could reach out to the community during this time, and what we could offer where the community would feel like they still had a safe option to come do something,” Lewis said. “That’s why we put this Halloween event together — we felt like it was something we could offer during this time that would just keep everyone involved.”

Lewis said the center has already had large distributors from the community step in and make donations for the event. They are currently taking donations from the community for Halloween decorations as well as prepackaged commercial candy.

Donations may be dropped off at Hope Therapeutic Horsemanship Center, 2019 E. Harvest Circle in Perryville. To arrange pick-up at a different location, contact Lewis at (573) 517-6004.