Anniston museum hosts its sixth annual fall fest

Oct. 12—The Anniston Museums and Gardens saw a whole host of ghouls, monsters, fairies and creatures Saturday as it invited locals to join them in the sixth annual fall festival.

In addition to the typical bouncy houses and food vendors, the museum invited several local first responders and law enforcement and several animal involved organizations to participate in this year's event.

"This year was a great success," said museums' Assistant Director Sarah Burke. "We had over 700 guests participate in our many Fall Fest activities and awesome support from community organizations."

"This was our sixth year. Fall Fest began as a 3-hour event and has grown to a full day, [which] included admission to Anniston Museum of Natural History and Berman Museum, as well as all activities," Burke said.

Spread throughout the entire museum campus, activities were in no short supply as kids got their face painted, got up close and personal with llamas and other animals, and climbed into the sheriff's office's new BearCat tactical vehicle.

There to educate the public about the vehicle was Investigator Jimmy Woodard with the CCSO. He said the vehicle holds far more people — nine or 10 — than the typical HUM-V tactical vehicles, which only seat about four. The BearCat also has a "port" for a sniper to shoot from an armored position — something that Woodard said the county needed July 3, 2021, when the deputies faced an active shooter situation in Weaver.

"Any time there is a potential for gunfire, we can drive into it and we're protected," Woodard said. "It's a great tool."

Kids climbed all through the vehicle, checking out the sniper hole and the roomy interior as Woodard explained the purpose of various features of the vehicle. Woodard said the CCSO tries to take every opportunity they can to educate the public.

"We were requested to get out here, and we like doing things like this. Any time we can be a positive experience for young kids or really anybody in the general public, we try to do that," Woodard said.

Though the first responder vehicles such as the BearCat and Anniston's fire truck were a big hit with the kiddoes, Burke said the show stopper was the array of animals on the campus.

"I think the animals are the biggest hit of the event," Burke said.

The campus hosted hands-on taxidermy from Sensory Safari Trailer, Hagen's Hollow, RedBird Willow Farm, Alabama Fire Marshal's K-9 Jimpy, and Anniston Police Department's K-9 Officer Tito, Burke said.

Fancy fluffy chickens, a pony, goats, guinea pigs, turtles and a giant python comprised the large petting zoo that gave the kids an interactive learning experience.

One little girl, Harley King, said this was her first year attending the event and her favorite thing was the turtles.

"I love turtles," King said with a big smile.

When she saw the giant python snake, she said she thought "holy smokes."

The festival also featured a hayride, for which Pickette's donated the hay, Burke said, and Camp Lee donated use of the trailer.