By Versailles Dalessio, Online Editor-in-Chief
Many are familiar with apple bobbing, face painting, hair spraying, dunking the teacher, pumpkin painting, spooky sweet treats, raffles and all the more that defines “fall fun.” Local events like the Nags Head Elementary Pumpkin Fair, Kitty Hawk Elementary’s Carnival and First Flight’s Trick-or-Treat Night are among the most popular, attracting large crowds, especially young children who are looking to celebrate the fall season.
However, in response to the pandemic, these events have been temporarily shut down or modified, which impacts those who regularly attend and how the community contributes each year.
“In terms of community involvement, it may affect how elementary school kids see older, middle and high school kids involved with school events, and if they’re not seeing that, then they might not feel like that’s something important they should be a part of,” junior Hope Halloran said.
While each school’s PTO welcomes help from the community and any volunteers who are willing to be a part of these beloved traditions, many students look forward to and rely on these events for service hours, which could potentially impact how they will earn them in the future.
“In that aspect, I do think it’s going to place a pretty big dent,” senior Allegra Mackenzie-Reece said. “Down here, I find it hard sometimes to earn community service hours and I know these provided a lot of opportunities for high schoolers.”
The events that have taken the place of the traditional carnivals have been smaller and used fewer volunteers. First Flight had a rock concert with food vendors and a silent raffle. Nags Head held the “Great Pumpkin and Mum Sale” in early October to help people decorate for fall. Kitty Hawk has shifted its carnival to a “Friday Night Lights” after Halloween, with its traditional games, live music, raffles, food and other fun scheduled for Friday, Nov. 5, from 4-8:30.
While students have missed the chance to volunteer or have fun with friends at their old schools, they also agree with the measures being taken for COVID-19 to try to keep everyone safe during the pandemic.
“I think it’s a good idea just because I feel like we’re a really tourist-filled area, and after the summer we needed some time to calm down after all the tourists being down here, and a lot of precautions for COVID-19 not being taken,” Mackenzie-Reece said. “I think this is a good time to start taking them more seriously, so we don’t end up with even worse of an epidemic.”
And while many can agree that these fall festivities will be missed, it’s proven that there needs to be some boundaries between safety and fun because otherwise experiences like these won’t be able to happen in the future.
“I think it’s a good idea that these events are shut down temporarily because of the risks of COVID-19, but I also feel bad because (the children) don’t get the whole fall experience,” junior Rylee Smeltzer said.
Senior Versailles Dalessio can be reached at [email protected].
