Pamplin Volunteer Fire and EMS Throws Halloween Celebration

For the first time, this past Saturday, October 26, Pamplin Volunteer Fire and EMS hosted a Halloween celebration for the local community. Parents brought their children, dressed up in their costumes, for a fun festival at the fire department from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. This festival included lots of kid friendly activities ranging from a bounce house and slide to a coloring contest where crayons were provided along with Halloween pictures to color. There were also various games and free candy, popcorn and hot dogs for all to enjoy. Many children also took part in a costume contest where judges picked six winners for Best Halloween Costume. The winners included costumes of Minnie Mouse, a rock star, two Batmans, a zombie girl and an astronaut. Other costumes present at the event included Scooby Doo, a cowgirl, a princess and Charlie Brown. Starting at 7 p.m., once it began to get dark outside, people attending the festival had the option of walking through the “fright house” that the Fire and EMS Department put together. In the fright house, groups of people were taken on a tour through a scene where people were dressed up in costumes and scary makeup designed to make them look like zombies. There was even a scene created that looked like a car wreck with people still at the scene, screaming with bloody-looking makeup. Actors for the fright house crept up to the people walking through, trying to spook them. None of them actually touched anyone, though; they were merely trying to give people who were willing a good scare. According to EMS Captain Gary Dickerson, the Pamplin Volunteer Fire and EMS Department plans on turning this into an annual event. Talking about where the festival idea originated, he said, “One of our EMS officers had the idea to try to come up with a Halloween party to… give back to the community and entertain the kids.” There were no proceeds for this Halloween festival, and the funding came out of Fire and EMS funds. Dickerson said, “We’re not trying to make any money off of the event, really. We’re really, honestly just trying to give back to the community.” As for other events to look for from Pamplin Volunteer Fire and EMS, Dickerson said, “We always look for ideas for either fundraisers or events for the community. So we do various, different things. Last month, we had our first annual Cornhole tournament. It was actually entitled our ‘first annual,’ but I think we’re going to do that more often than just once a year now.” He continued, “Next weekend, we have our annual Brunswick stew, as well. So we have different events throughout the year.” This planned-to-be-annual Halloween festival would not have been possible without the help of the community. Dickerson said, “A lot of the representation today has been a lot of the community members helping out. They’re the parents and the kids helping out, putting the whole thing together, so we thank them, of course.”