The Starke County Sheriff’s Office is hosting a day of fall activities for the entire family tomorrow. Jail Warden Phill Cherry says the Starke County Justice Center Fall-Oween Fest is back, after it was put on hold last year due to COVID-19.
“The offenders will be out just like they were,” Cherry says. “We’ll be doing trunk-or-treating. There’s a small pumpkin patch we’re going to have. Any child under the age of 12 will get free a free hotdog, juice, popcorn, and there’s some activities for the kids to do besides the trunk-or-treating.”
It’s part of the F.A.R.M. program. That stands for Fostering a Recovery Mentality. Since it began more than five years ago, it’s given inmates a chance to grow produce and do woodworking projects, while also taking part in programs to help them turn their lives around.
“It’s going really well,” Cherry says. “We actually hired a facilitator for our substance abuse program, and we have a reentry coordinator. So on top of what the men and women are doing in the program, we’ve also more than quadrupled our class time for substance abuse and life skills.”
Cherry says F.A.R.M. participants will also be selling their Halloween crafts during tomorrow’s Fall-Oween Fest.
He says the event is a way of giving back to the community. “We’ve been pretty fortunate,” Cherry says. “We got a lot of donations of candy and pumpkins and things like that, so I think it’s going to be a pretty nice day.”
Tomorrow’s Fall-Oween Fest takes place from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the Starke County Justice Center on State Road 8 in Knox.
