Drive-thru trick-or-treat kicks off Halloween festivities

BATAVIA, OH -- Families in Batavia held trick-or-treating a little early over the weekend as part of an annual drive-through celebration that started during the pandemic in 2020.

The Clermont County Board of Developmental Disabilities hosted their seventh annual Haunted Drive-Thru last week, where cars were dressed for the occasion – along with organizers.

Lisa Davis is one of three members of the organization's community relations department, alongside Megan Werring and Angie Stanton.

Davis told the story behind this event, with haunted house inflatables and skeletons strewn about.

In 2020, the organization hosted their first drive through to spread positivity in the midst of an international lockdown.

“Angie [Stanton] said, 'Why don't we start a haunted drive through?’” Davis said. “We heard back from a bunch of people who said, ‘This really saved the day!’ It really got everybody out of their homes.”

Since then, Davis and Stanton have worked together to coordinate the event each year. Werring joined four years ago, and has since brought in multiple local sponsors, including but not limited to Scoopable Ice Cream, Bluebird Bus of Hope, even a small team of real-life Ghostbusters.

One notable presence was SNAPDragons. The group describes itself as a social enterprise, dedicated to providing athletic programs to children and adults with developmental disabilities. They have been sponsoring the Haunted Drive-Thru for over three years. 

Dan and Amber Olsen of SNAPDragons provided a portion of their personal animatronic collection for display, setting them up along the path the cars would be taking through the parking lot of the board.

The Olsens have been collecting Halloween animatronics for a very long time, with over a hundred animatronics and counting.

“My oldest got into [animatronics], then we got into it.” Dan Olsen said. “He’s been doing this since he was about 5 years old.”

The Olsens, being deeply familiar with animatronics and Halloween, are more than happy to come out each year and participate with the Haunted Drive-Thru.

There doesn’t seem to be an end to these festivities, even if they’re just for one day, so follow Clermont DD on Facebook for updates on future events.