Fall festivals are a big draw

Boo Mania, Cat Fest offer plenty of fun for all ages

Robert Baker / The Item People of all ages enjoy Clarendon Hall's Boo Mania and Laurence Manning Academy's Cat Fest during the weekend. Boo Mania will be back from 6 to 9 p.m. Saturday with the "Forest of Horrors" hayride as the main attraction.

By ROBERT BAKER
Item Staff Writer
bbaker@theitem.com

With what was said to be a "mix of the old and the new," Clarendon Hall's 20th edition of the popular fall festival Boo Mania got under way Saturday in Summerton, offering various carnival games, dancing, live entertainment, bingo and even jail.

"The bingo is one of the things lots of people asked for last year," said Headmaster Kim Fleming, adding that the jail idea has been done before and was brought back because of "lots of demand."

"You can pay to have someone put in and someone has to pay their bail to get them out or they can pay to get out," she said. "It's one of the things we haven't done in a while, but people really enjoyed it before."

The event began in 1990 when former school board Chairman Dusty Rhodes, former Assistant Headmaster Ginger Tindal Rhodes and a core group of parents visited St. Paul Country Day School in Hollywood, S.C., for its "Halloween Extravaganza."

"The group was so enthused with the idea, they put together a haunted hayride that very year as part of the school's Halloween carnival," said Travis McIntosh, who handles advertising and publicity for the festival. "That was back when the carnival was in the gymnasium."

The group got back together the following year, formed committees, gave Boo Mania its name and took everything outdoors to the school's stadium, where it remains today.

"Boo Mania is an annual fall event the entire community looks forward to attending," McIntosh said.

Over in Manning, students, alumni and faculty of Laurence Manning Academy were busy throwing that school's annual Cat Fest fall festival.

"It amazes me what all they can do out here," said Donna Hickman, who brought 3-year-old niece Shana Turner. "It's a lot of fun for the kids, I think."

Wendy Davis, a secretary for the school who organized the event this year, said that, like Boo Mania, Cat Fest's hayride is the biggest attraction.

"Children love it, and some adults help on the haunted hayride and that is always fun," she said.

Robert Baker / The Item For a couple of tickets, kids and teenagers had a chance to beat up on an old car at Laurence Manning Academy's Cat Fest held Saturday. The school has been holding the festival for more than 20 years and uses it as a main fundraiser for building projects.

Davis said proceeds from the festival go to the school's capital campaign building fund to add on to its gymnasium, in addition to covering other expenses.

"We've outgrown our gym; that's our next project hopefully," she said. "And we're still trying to pay for the new building that we've been in."

On Monday, Davis said the school met the goals it set for fundraising at the event, with about 1,800 visitors attending Cat Fest this year.

"We had a little bit more than last year," she said. "Our numbers were a little bit higher than last year."

Fleming said Boo Mania also serves as one of Clarendon Hall's main fundraisers.

"It's lots of fun, and I think of it as kind of a community service," Fleming said. "It's a great place for people to spend their pre-Halloween and Halloween weekend evenings."

Boo Mania will be back beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday with the "Forest of Horrors" hayride as the main attraction.

Described by the school's Web site as "a haunted hayride through the Low Country swamps of Clarendon County," the mile-long ride features many funny and scary skits and takes anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes.

"We're going this year with some older skits as well as some that we haven't done in a while," Fleming said. "We'll have some new ones as well."

Ticket prices are $3 for adults; $1 for students; and children 5 and younger are free. Ticket prices for games and the haunted hayride can be purchased by visiting www.clarendonhall.org.



Item Staff Writer Belton White contributed to this report.



Contact Staff Writer Robert Baker at bbaker@theitem.com or (803) 435-8511.