It’s that time of year again: It’s time for spooks!!!

The city of Great Bend, Eagle Communications, and KSN are putting on the annual ZooBoo. This event has taken place every year before Halloween, with this year it being on October 26, 2019. Christina Hayes, Community Coordinator, said, “When I was a little girl, I remember that it wasn’t at the zoo, but the community and the city did a safe Halloween trick or treating event that actually took place in the tunnels underneath the old CKMC [Central Kansas Medical Center] hospital all the way over to the convent, and so I know that Great Bend has had a free fun trick or treating event for at least, I would say, 30 years.” As for ZooBoo, Hayes stated, “I would say probably about 20 years ago, ZooBoo started when they had to close down those tunnels underground because of safety issues, and so they moved it to the zoo and have created it there on behalf of the city.”

ZooBoo is a big deal for the city of Great Bend, and Hayes said “We get more than 3,000 [about 20% of Great Bend’s population] through the gate every year, so it’s a huge event, and of course the kids are the only ones that trick or treat, but there sure are a lot of adults that come through as well, and we have about 30 different booths that are set up inside and it’s different sponsors, businesses, and volunteers that come and give out the candy.”

Candy is a big part of Halloween. According to Hayes, the city spends roughly $8,000 on candy for this event. Others who participate also bring candy, thus bringing the estimated total up to $10,000-$15,000.

This year, VIP passes will be added to ZooBoo. Hayes provided some information on this new feature, saying how “In every other zoo across the state, when they do a ZooBoo or Boo at the Zoo it’s a fundraiser for them. Well, our city does it a little different; it’s not a fundraiser, we just do it as a free fun event for the community, but what’s happening is with budget changes, and stuff are getting cut, and so we were trying to look for little fun ways to do fundraising without charging people a dollar or five dollars to come through the gate for ZooBoo, and so we added VIP passes to it where you can buy a set of 5 for $25, and we’re giving them a VIP line basically.”

This line will be separate from the normal line. The people who have gotten these passes will get to go to the front, and the passes will be collected as these people go through to prevent having people always go through and cut in front of others who have to wait. This is just one of the little ways to help raise money to offset the cost of the candy and promotions.

This event is a huge part of Great Bend and will continue to be for a long time.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!!!