KYLERTOWN – The Kylertown Community Association’s first-ever Haunted Hayride was an “unqualified success,” according to event organizers.
A total of 522 souls rode the hayride, which raised $2,134.48 for the community organization. According to Sue Piloski, Kylertown Community Association vice president, “The hayride has to have been the biggest community event Kylertown has seen in several decades.”
The hayride was held the evenings of Oct.25-26, starting at the Kylertown Athletic Fields on Kyler Lane. It traveled through the adjacent former Ames Field Airport grounds before returning to the starting point.
Tractor drivers for the hayride were Triston Kelly, Bob Fisch and Al Fisch. It was a 45-minute journey through the abandoned airport grounds that featured a number of “haunting” scenes.
Haunting scenes included witches brewing up a magical potion, Jason of Friday the 13th Fame, zombies, scary clowns, mud monsters, a cemetery and much more.
One local legend says the former Ames Airport is haunted by an old coal miner who frequently walks the airport runways at night. And, as expected, the coal miner made an appearance during the hayride event.
Tom Shirey was the coordinator for the hayride haunting scenes. Shirey and a team of volunteers helped bring the ideas to life.
For the children, there was a friendly barrel ride, which took them in a circle around one of the baseball diamonds. Johnny Zetts pulled the barrel ride with his vintage 1965 Cub Cadet lawn tractor.
Under the park’s picnic pavilion, there were numerous children’s Halloween activities, which provided for a fun evening for the little ones. Organizing the children’s activities area was Kylertown resident Laurie Josephson. The athletic field’s concession stand was open selling hot dogs, sloppy joes, hot chocolate, coffee, pumpkin pie and more.
The Kylertown Community Association would like to thank the local businesses who made financial or material donations to make the hayride possible.
The list includes J&T Farming of Kylertown, the Larson family of Kylertown, Adler’s Market of Philipsburg, Earthmovers of Kylertown, Clearfield County Metal of Morrisdale, Nepoli Pizza of Kylertown, Fisch Dairy Farm of Kylertown, Zetts Fish Hatchery of Drifting, Six Yellow Chairs of Lanse, H&B Hardware of Kylertown, Linda’s Paw Spa of Kylertown, the Grassflat Moose Lodge and J. Krasinski Excavating of Kylertown.
The association is already making plans for next year’s Kylertown Haunted Hayride event, said organizers. It will be held on Oct. 23-24, 2015.
Plans are to expand the number of haunting spots along the hayride route and to provide for more activities at the park area. Anyone interested in hosting a haunting spot or volunteering to help in next year’s hayride is asked to visit the Kylertown Community Association’s Web site at www.kylertown.org and use the “contact us” page or to call Tom Shirey at 814-857-1820.
