Decatur Special Needs Spooktacular doubles attendance from last year

Oct. 28—Making sure every individual had a special and safe night at this year's Special Needs Spooktacular was the biggest priority as Lt. Brandon Sivley and his team at Decatur Fire & Rescue hosted the event for the second year on Thursday evening.

The parking lot at the Fire and Police Training Center in Flint was packed with vehicles and a sadistic looking clown with a baseball bat greeted visitors as they pulled in.

"We felt like last year was between 200 and 250 people," Sivley said. "This year, we feel like we doubled."

A red-lit, cobweb-covered hallway in the training center echoed with chilling screams throughout the night. Visitors entered through the doorway on the south side of the building where the roaring of a chainsaw could be heard from the life-size replica of Leatherface from The Texas Chainsaw Massacre series.

Inside the hallway were famous horror movie characters such as Freddie Krueger and Pennywise and several ghosts and ghouls made their appearance known as well.

This year, the Fire and Rescue team opened the event to the special needs adult community. Parents like Cathy Thorn are grateful for Halloween events like these where she can take her son, Shawn, and his three friends and know they'll be in good hands.

"These guys, we go everywhere together," Thorn laughed. "They've all been friends for the last 20 years."

Sivley said Decatur Fire & Rescue had initially designed the Spooktacular with children on the autism spectrum in mind.

"There were about four or five of us who started an autism awareness group," Sivley said. "We had families with children who had other special needs as well who wanted to be a part of it, so we just opened it for all special needs."

The awareness group then discussed hosting a sensory-friendly Halloween party for children with special needs and the Spooktacular was soon born.

Thorn said she was looking forward to Shawn and his friends checking out the trunk-or-treat activities outside, which were designed for individuals with sensory issues.

"This all works great because Shawn has two friends, Shea and Travis, who are non-verbal and cannot communicate well so this helps," Thorn said.

Several law enforcement and fire and rescue officials were at the Spooktacular, which was something Shawn's friend Lane Barnes admired.

"Lane's stepdad, Ed Taylor, used to be the Decatur police chief so he has always loved law enforcement," Thorn said.

Sponsors for the event included Jackson Plumbing, Heating & Cooling; Daikin Decatur; T-Mobile of Decatur; 7 Brew Coffee and several more. T-Mobile retail store manager Thad Tipton said he was glad to be a part of the event again this year as he and his employees distributed bags of candy from their booth.

"The biggest thing we want to do at T-Mobile is to be a part of this community," Tipton said. "This is a positive event where people with special needs really feel included."

Sivley said there were several things he learned from last year's event that informed this year's production, including that loud music can cause some children distress.

"Their parents told us about it and we shut it off right then and there," Sivley said. "The mother told me we didn't have to do that on account of them and I said, 'No, ma'am, that's what this event was created for was to accommodate everybody."