Community Bulletin
Every can of soup dropped off at Kelley Tierney State Farm in Buckhannon through Oct. 31 will be matched with a second can, as the agency's ninth annual Soup Drive stocks the Upshur County Schools Backpack Program for students' weekends and breaks. Read more →
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BUCKHANNON – The Great Jawbone Howl-O-Ween invites families to Jawbone Park in downtown Buckhannon to enjoy vendors, activities, music and a costume contest before trick-or-treating begins on Halloween, Oct. 31.
Tonya Pinegar, co-owner and photographer for Majestic Mountains Studio, attended the Oct. 14 Buckhannon-Upshur Chamber of Commerce meeting to present their new event, the Great Jawbone Howl-O-Ween.
“This is going to be a family-friendly, pet-friendly, community celebration where everyone can come out and enjoy everything. We hope it brings a lot of foot traffic to downtown,” Pinegar said. “It’s on Halloween Day from noon until 5:30 p.m. with free admission to the park grounds. As of right now, we have 24 vendors coming. The fire department is going to have a fire truck there to do truck tours for the kids.”
Trick-or-treat in the city limits runs from 6 to 7:30 p.m. that night.
Pinegar and Tabby Fitzgerald, the studio’s other co-owner and photographer, will also offer Halloween mini photo sessions for $25 throughout the event.
“We have a business called Cartoon Headquarters coming. They’re bringing a giant Halloween inflatable, and they’re going to be there until 4 p.m.,” Pinegar said. “We’re also having The DJ Princess, he’s going to do music and karaoke for everybody, and Cadence [Ringer] is doing our costume contest. There’s going to be seven categories for the costume contest, and eight prize baskets.”
Several local businesses have donated prizes for the baskets and there will be a raffle with more prizes; the proceeds from the raffle will go toward planning the event next year.
Paint Misbehavin’ will offer face painting and a magic show for the grand finale.
“For the grand finale, there’s going to be a magic show and she’s also putting up balloon décor; she donated her time to do balloon décor,” Pinegar said. “You probably saw the big dragon made out of balloons at the Strawberry Festival from a couple years ago, it’s that lady. She’s going to do big spiders for Halloween, and she’s also doing the magic show.”
Ringer, the Upshur County Convention and Visitors Bureau executive director, said she was happy to see a new event come together.
“They were very intentional about using Festival Friday’s vendors that didn’t get to finish out their season, so they contacted them to give them an opportunity to do that as well,” Ringer said. “They put their whole heart into this event. They hit the ground running and took it way farther than I ever expected it to be, and they’ve coordinated the whole thing as an event for the kids. I think it’s been great to do that and keep our community engaged, especially with a fall event.”
