Ups and downs for Catskin Days weekend
Bad weather and failure of Brady Amusements to arrive put a damper on this year's Catskin Days festival in Carrier Mills.
Brady Amusements suffered storm damage to their carnival equipment at a venue out of state and were unable to provide rides for the Carrier Mills fall festival. As a result the Catskin Days committee was able to offer several bouncy houses for smaller children as well as planning to go ahead with the planned beauty pageant and musical events.
This was not to be however, for the weather turned nasty with rains over the weekend closing down festivities. The beauty pageant was held Thursday evening and a smaller than normal turnout attended the evening's entertainment until bad weather closed that night's fun. Rain on Friday forced cancellation of the festival, but Saturday saw the annual parade be held just ahead of another round of rain storms.
"It was just bad luck," said Shawn Wilkins of the Catskin Days committee. "We took a loss financially, but we are all set to go ahead for next year's festival."
One upside of the weekend was the high school junior class "Silent Mills" haunted house seeing a good attendance on Friday and Saturday nights. The haunted house, held in the old NAPA building on North Main street was able to raise nearly $900 for the juniors prom and after prom party.
"We did quite well," said Beth Thomason, parent of one of the juniors. "We had some visitors from Carrier Mills, Galatia, Harrisburg and a few from Marion show up."
The juniors plan to have the haunted house open again 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and are thinking about opening it for Halloween if there seems to still be an interest in the public.
"We are going to change a few things for the next weekend," Thomason said. "Not much though, it's a pretty scary haunted house!"
The Daily Register was allowed to follow one young couple as they toured the frights and chills of the "Silent Mills" and can attest the the efficacy of the frights and terror found inside. Indeed, in the "Butcher Room" when one of the butchers came at the couple striking sparks of the floor with his machete, the young lady went into near hysterics.
Sunday afternoon saw the Carrier Mills Fire Department host their annual Water Fights contest with area fire departments participating in three events which tested firefighting skill in a playful format. In "Table Top" two teams of two firefighters demonstrated control and accuracy with fire hoses as they competed to force a metal can about the size of a propane cylinder past their opponent's water stream and off the end of a caged table-like stand. "Three Hose" saw teams compete against time to rig together three fire hoses, run out and charge the hoses and then knock down flame targets in a simulated house front. "Wild Hose" involved a cut off fire hose being charged with water and whipping around wildly. The object of this competition was to gain control of the loose hose and hold it within a foot of the cut off end in the least time.
Firefighters from the Carrier Mills, Hurst, West City, Stonefort and Murphysboro departments attended the water fight event and prizes were awarded for First, Second and Third places in all three events. Carrier Mills Fire Department was the organizer of this year's competition.