More than 400 children attend Scott City Halloween carnival

More than 400 children attended a Halloween carnival sponsored by the Scott City Community Interactive Parks Program on Saturday at Scott City Park.

Additions to this year's carnival included the involvement of the Scott City police and fire departments, whose members spoke about fire safety and offered fingerprinting records to the attending families. The Scott County Sheriff's Department and McGruff also participated in the event to remind families of the importance of Halloween safety and awareness while trick-or-treating.

A helicopter candy drop made its debut at the carnival. More than 6,000 pieces of candy were dropped from the sky. The candy drop was made possible by donations from L&J Supply, Amick-Burnett Funeral Chapel, Dakota Services and Roth Hardware. Paul Salmon with Aerial Ventures and the Air Evac Lifeteam also assisted.

The festivities also included a Halloween costume contest, raffle drawing, coloring contest, doughnut eating contest and bounce house. Free trick-or-treat bags were provided by Bootheel Harley-Davidson, and an iPod Shuffle donated by Modern Woodmen was given away. Several individuals donated their time to the event, including new SCIPP member Linda Gentry, who passed out ice cream donated by Prairie Farms.

"I just love to see the looks on the children's faces," Gentry said.

Gentry joined SCIPP because she wanted to be a part of providing safe and fun activities for area children.

SCIPP is the collaborative work of the Scott City Parks Department, the Scott City Women's Club and the Scott City Kiwanis Club. According to parks director Phyllis Crump, when the groups got together to brainstorm ways to improve their community, SCIPP was brought to life.

"We wanted more programs for our children and senior citizens," Crump said.

SCIPP is funded through private donations and contributions from area businesses. Founders of the program hope it will inspire other cities in the area to develop similar programs.

Since its initiation about a year and a half ago, SCIPP has hosted movie nights, a senior citizen party and a summer day camp, in addition to the Halloween carnival.

"We would like to start an after-school program eventually," Crump said.

SCIPP plans to make the carnival an annual event. Kiwanis member Paul Schock participated in last year's carnival and was pleased with the number of people who attended this year.

"It's doubled," Schock said. "We hope to make it bigger and better each year."

Pertinent Address:

Scott City, Mo.