ALACHUA ‒ It’s that time of year when scarecrows invade Alachua’s downtown and the annual celebration begins. For the past 16 years the Alachua Chamber of Commerce has hosted Scarecrow Row on Main Street as businesses and organizations sponsor light poles decorated in celebration of Halloween and the fall season.

Corporate sponsors either partner with a Main Street business or purchase their own pole to decorate with a decked out scarecrow. The money raised goes toward programs and events hosted by the Chamber of Commerce to help promote business on Main Street and provide services and facilities to the community, including events like the Trick or Treat on Main Street and the annual Christmas Parade.

The Alachua Chamber of Commerce sponsors these events to “raise public awareness of local downtown businesses, bring more tourist and consumers to the area, and create a sense of community and partnership within the local business community as well as providing free events for the community to enjoy.

Scarecrow Row has grown over the years and has become a well-known annual event that runs the entire month of October making sure the Halloween spirit is alive and well. Scarecrows run the gamut in creativity, only limited by the individuals crafting each installation. Early in October it was not uncommon to see groups of people gathered together working on their spooky creations. And throughout the month pole sponsors checked on their scarecrows to make sure they remained in good shape leading up to the annual judging. This year's theme was “Mad Scientist” and each scarecrow incorporated that theme. Some scarecrows were funny, some spooky, some simple, some extensive, but all creative and meant to amuse and entertain.

Each participating business designed and constructed their own display that was judged by a three-judge panel. Prizes, as well as plaques were presented for 1^st, 2^nd and 3rd place. Winners were announced at the annual Trick or Treat on Main Street held Saturday night. Boukari Realty took first place along with a $300 prize. Mebane Middle School came in second along with a $200 prize. Third place went to Dr. Douglas Adel along with a $100 prize.

The event has grown in popularity and the Chamber is considering expanding it so there are scarecrows beyond Main Street and possibly opening up entries to the public to increase participation.

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ALACHUA ‒ Octoberfest usually conjures up images of beer gardens with quantities of bratwurst and German beers. But the City of Alachua-sponsored first-ever Octoberfest at the Cleather Hathcock Community Center wasn't the typical celebration centered around beer and German food. Instead, it was a chance for seniors and teens to celebrate fall, decorate pumpkins, cupcakes and pumpkin bread while bridging the generation gap.

The pandemic has been especially hard on seniors as they are at a higher risk of serious illness from COVID-19. Over the duration of the pandemic, seniors have stayed indoors more than usual, depending on family and circles of friends for support. Octoberfest at the Cleather Hathcock Community Center offered an opportunity to visit with other seniors and teenagers from the City of Alachua Youth Advisory Council (YAC). For the youth, it was a chance to glean historic insights and experiences from a different generation.

Alachua City Deputy Clerk LeAnne Williams works with the YAC and the Senior Resource Board (SRB), both organizations having goals of giving support and addressing issues affecting their respective age groups.

In January 2021, the YAC began a project to help foster care children and Williams suggested meeting with SRB members to find out if they would like to get involved. The seniors were thrilled to join in the project, not only to work with the foster kids but also as a chance to get out in the community with a purpose.

“We're lonely and feel isolated,” seniors told them. “We want to get back out and interact with our community.”

“It benefited both groups in unique ways. For the seniors, it gave them people to enjoy experiences and conversation with,” said Williams. “It also provided them a way to pass on a lifetime of experience and stories that might otherwise be forgotten.

“For the teens, it gave them an opportunity to get to know and learn from a generation that is history to them. At least one generation separates the two from their view of the world. Except interactions within their own family with grandparents and great grandparents or what they learn in school, they have limited perceptions of what life was like before,” Williams said.

Alachua is sponsoring a number of cross-generational events. The first was a bingo night in June, which Williams says was a great success. Octoberfest is the second, then a Christmas Caroling event and Bingo in December and a High Tea in the spring.

At the Octoberfest event, each teen was paired with a senior to encourage interaction. “The painting and decorating takes time so they had plenty of time to talk,” said Williams. “We also provided the teens with five questions to ask the seniors, both to learn from them and give the seniors an opportunity to reflect back on their lives and experiences.”

Williams says the questions were meant to provoke conversation—not short answers. Seniors were asked questions such as “What was your greatest accomplishment?” “What was the hardest thing you went through?” “What event affected you most?” and “How has Alachua (or the world) changed in your lifetime?”

The questions allowed the seniors to share their own stories and gave the young people an opportunity to learn about the past from the perspective of people who lived it.

Williams said, “If the stories aren't shared, they are lost forever.”

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ To celebrate the Halloween spirit, the Opera House at the Great Outdoors Restaurant became a dark and sinister place, terrorizing all who entered. A dark maze filled with body parts, ghosts, demons and serial killers. But it was all in fun, as the Great Outdoors hosted a haunted house for the holiday.

When Melissa Doring became event manager at the Great Outdoors in July and took a tour of the Opera House space, she saw the potential for it to host special events, especially around various holidays

“One of my first thoughts were that this space could make an ideal haunted house for Halloween. The idea stayed in the back of my mind for several months as I acclimated to my new job, and I finally pitched it to my boss who agreed to let me put it together,” Doring said.

Working with a limited budget, materials and help, she posted on Facebook to see if anyone wanted to help or contribute. “I got a response from Chris Scott, who wound up turning the concept into a reality in a really short time period,” said Doring. “This wouldn't have happened without his involvement.”

Scott has been putting on Halloween shows for over eight years. He was involved with the Madness and Mayhem Halloween specials for several years as well as other organizations. It is his passion rather than profession. “I do it because I love it, said Scott. “To me it’s creating a giant art installation for people to enjoy.”

Scott says that Halloween makes the perfect time for mixing in the heightened emotions of surprise and fear with the entertainment. Over the years he has collected a large number of props, including building a maze that can be adjusted to each different location.

Scott contacted Doring and restaurant owner Baram Kim to discuss combining forces to create a professional quality haunted house in the Opera House. Both welcomed his support. The biggest problem was time as Scott had only learned of Doring's Facebook post a week before Halloween, but the two worked together to make it a reality.

It took two full box trucks to bring all the materials and props Scott had to the Great Outdoors and take it all upstairs. It took Scott and his wife, Bobbi, three days to put it together.

Staffing was another issue since the Great Outdoors staff was busy with the restaurant on a Saturday night. Doring manned the entry point along with her father, Barry Searles, who was dressed as a vampire. Her mother was also one of the characters in the Haunted House. Chris, his wife and daughter were also members of the cast as were three friends and one Great Outdoors employee. There was a $10 entry fee to cover cost and give volunteers some remuneration for their work.

The Halloween theme was also carried over to the Pink Flamingo Diner, which is owned by the same company. The general manager for the two restaurants, Lynn Long, arranged for a red tractor to run hayrides between the two locations. The tractor brought people over to the miniature golf course at the Pink Flamingo to play on the decorated “haunted” golf course and back to their cars. Many of the participants were children in Halloween costumes.

“We put this together in a very short time and thanks to Chris's materials and expertise and the efforts of everyone involved it was a success. We saw 165 “victims” come in to be scared ….and they all came out happy as well,” Doring said.

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HIGH SPRINGS ‒ The Gentle Carousel Mini Therapy Horses are well known area celebrities. Local children and parents who have met these loving animals in person may not be surprised to learn that the little horses with big hearts are the subject of a new book written about their therapy program. “Mini Horse, Mighty Hope: How a Heard of Miniature Horses Provides Comfort and Healing,” was published by Revell Publishing and released nationally on Amazon and all major booksellers on Oct. 19.

Debbie Garcia-Bengochea and Peggy Frezon co-authored the 200-plus page book about one of the largest equine therapy programs in the world. The book, which already has five-star reviews on Amazon, begins with a first-person account of how the program came about by one of the charity’s founders, Garcia-Bengochea.

The book also includes stories about individual horses and events during the 20-plus years of doing this charity work, including a chapter about the guardian dogs that live with the horses. “Each chapter includes what we learned and individual people we’ve met along the way,” said Garcia-Bengochea.

When the charity went to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, after the school shootings they experienced so many kind and thoughtful things that people did to make their trip as comfortable as possible. “It was cold, but we had a heated horse ambulance for our horses to help keep them warm. One man made hot chocolate and went looking for us. We were just getting ready to go into the police station when he appeared with the hot drinks,” she said. The book includes simple stories and real-life miracles that happened on that trip as well as others over the years.

“Some of the places we go, we see some pretty tough times that people are going through,” she said. “But in the worst of times you see the best in people. Whenever there is a disaster, people who may be divided in other ways are risking their lives to rescue others.”

Garcia-Bengochea and Frezon had met earlier when Frezon included a chapter on therapy horse, Magic, in her book. “She was fascinated with the horses,” said Garcia-Bengochea. “She came down and visited them. We wound up talking on Mondays and then we began to work together.”

The book includes a story about Terry Lee, a woman who was in her last hours of life at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York. Dr. Elizabeth Mann, Lee’s doctor, asked what she could do for the dying woman. She responded that she wanted to lie in a pasture filled with horses.

As it turned out Gentle Carousel happened to be in New York City teaching a class at Columbia Medical School. The couple brought therapy horse Magic to the hospital into Lee’s ICU room to the patient’s delight. Because the charity was coming to the hospital, television crews were on hand to film Magic’s patient visit. The “Today Show” crew was in Lee’s room. Shortly after their visit Terry Lee passed away, having had her wish granted.

Gentle Carousel had a photograph of Magic in Lee’s room along with her doctor and the Today Show film crew. The charity had obtained photo releases from everyone in the room as always. However, as part of the publisher’s requirements, they required photo releases signed again on their company’s release forms.

“The amount of work that it took to get permission for many new photo releases during the pandemic was monumental,” said Garcia-Bengochea. Lee’s physician, Elizabeth Mann, M.D., had left Mount Sinai Hospital and was working on a Native American reservation in Oklahoma. We had to find her during the pandemic and get a photo release.

The charity had also worked with families at Ronald McDonald House. “We had to locate parents across the country and get updated written permission to use their photographs as well,” she said.

Meanwhile, the authors were working with people from the publishing house. “There was someone from public relations, a cover designer, the editors, a legal team – at least 20 people in all. They have been super supportive,” Garcia-Bengochea said. “It actually took a couple of years between the time they started writing and the Oct. 19 release date.”

The last chapter in the book was when COVID-19 was starting. “We had just returned from New York right before COVID hit there. We were doing an event at the Javits Center for Universal NBC,” she said. “They paid for the trip so we could do our hospital visits on the east coast. Due to the pandemic the Javits Center was transformed into a hospital in the weeks after we left,” said Garcia-Bengochea.

Asked how the book is doing on Amazon Garcia-Bengochea said, “This book is the number one new release in a number of categories and on Amazon Bestseller lists. For Inspirational Books it has been ranked number four on Amazon. We are really pleased with the reviews. They have been very encouraging. Barnes and Noble released the book a few days early, so we began hearing from people before the official release date.”

Usually, when a book comes out the authors schedule a book-signing tour. Due to COVID, that has had to be modified. Many bookstores are not doing in-person book signings. “We are doing creative book signings at outdoor venues,” said Garcia-Bengochea. “We also have had ‘Hoof-o-graphed’ books signed by the horses at book signings.”

Proceeds from Garcia-Bengochea’s share of book sales will help support the horses and the Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horse charity. Garcia-Bengochea said they have had to make temporary changes to the program in light of the pandemic. The couple filmed videos for kids, and they also started doing outdoor reading programs at parks and on library lawns. “We’re constantly trying to find new ways to do things.” The couple set up a studio in their living room in order to conduct “face-time” communication with young patients in hospitals. Children also receive calls from their favorite horse to check on how they are doing at home. “The children are told their horse is calling them to check on them,” she said. “They are delighted.”

The charity has visited assisted living programs for many years. During the pandemic the horses visited with residents through the windows and sent stuffed toy horses inside for each person. “The last picture in the book is of a visit to an assisted living program that was taken at the window,” she said. “We’ve just had to be more creative through the pandemic, but we don’t want people not to see the horses if there is some way we can make it happen safely,” she said. This week the horses will be visiting that same program with residents in an outdoor patio area.

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This interview was conducted with local author Debbie Garcia-Bengochea. Co-author of this book, Peggy Frezon, is contributing editor of All Creatures magazine and author of books about the human-animal bond. She's a regular contributor to Guideposts magazine and Angels on Earth. Her stories also appear in books such as "The Ultimate Dog Lover," "Miracles and Animals," and more than twenty Chicken Soup for the Soul™ books. She also blogs at The Writer's Dog. She lives in New York, where she and her husband rescue senior golden retrievers and do therapy dog work. They share their home with two golden retrievers, Ernest and Pete.

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