By Megan Wehring
WIMBERLEY — Costume contests, trick-or-treating and bags full of candy all scream Halloween. Wimberley Parks and Recreation had an eventful weekend, drawing in over 250 cars, for this year’s Boo! Hole Halloween last Saturday.
Boo! Hole Halloween is a tradition in Wimberley that welcomes thousands of people to the city and Blue Hole Regional Park. This year’s event still brought a little magic with a drive-thru around the recreation loop where 25 local businesses and organizations passed out candy or prizes in the open trunks of cars, keeping social distancing in mind.
Richard Shaver, operations and programs manager for the Parks and Recreation department, said the city of Wimberley wanted to continue the tradition to bring hope to a world of uncertainty right now.
“Especially with everything going on, I think Wimberley residents and Hays County residents need something to do with public safety as our number one concern,” Shaver said.
Shaver added that this year’s Boo! Hole underwent over a month of planning but it was a community effort to make it a success.
“Whenever we were first planning it, we could never do something like this on our own,” Shaver told the Hays Free Press/News-Dispatch. “So we had to turn to the community and say we need your help to provide something for the kids of Wimberley and for Hays County.”
Many attendees provided positive feedback to the city staff that the event provided some “normalcy to this 2020 that we are living in today,” according to Shaver.
Boo! Hole Halloween did look different this year as many activities were modified due to safety guidelines, including hosting the event during daylight hours. Residents and other attendees used their creativity skills with decorating for the car costume contest. A car photo booth was also provided to still have interaction between the city staff and attendees.
As the holidays are quickly approaching, the Wimberley Parks and Recreation staff is working on planning future events for residents. For any additional information, please visit the city of Wimberley website to mark your calendar.
