Community Spotlight: How Science Inspires Main Streets
Three examples of creative science programming from grant recipients of the In the Path of Totality program.
In late September of 2022, City of Conway Mayor, Barbara Blain-Bellamy issued a surprise proclamation, renaming the City of Conway, South Carolina to the City of Halloween, South Carolina, for the month of October. The Mayor promised a calendar full of events, frights, activities, and sights and delivered on that promise.
The City of Halloween welcomed October with jack-o-lantern-filled trees, floating witch hat gardens, UFO crash sites, skeletons, zombies, pumpkins, orange-lit water towers, spiders, gargoyles, thriller flash mobs. At any given moment, crowds of people clamored for the best angles to take photographs of their families enjoying the hauntingly spectacular arrangements. In just one month, the city hosted three parades, a ghost walk, a haunted trail, an outdoor movie, Carrie the Musical, a zombie run, a light up the night 5k, a barbeque cook-off competition, a kids carnival, a house decorating contest, 13 separate Trunk-or-Treat events and so much more.
Businesses have seen the results too, with some reporting as much as three times the sales numbers of previous years. Reports of vacationers changing their plans to visit our city and hearing how much they enjoyed themselves have been frequent. Perhaps more surprisingly has been our viral fame on TikTok and Instagram. The success of this program has guaranteed one thing more than any other, the City of Halloween will be back every October, bigger and better and spookier than before.
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