Residents in Bucoda have been discussing the possible formation of a neighborhood watch.
It was a topic of discussion by the Bucoda Town Council during its regular monthly meeting on July 8.
Additionally, the council discussed use of the Boo-Coda Spook-Tacular Haunted House gym building, along with possibly expanding the town’s month-long October Halloween celebration to include other types of events, including a “Boo-tober Fest” Oktoberfest-style festival to try to increase tourism during the month.
Bucoda Mayor Callie Carpenter also announced the town had won a small grant for funds to construct a shelter for Bucoda’s bus stop.
“This was one thing that kind of made my month,” Carpenter said.
The grant was a $3,000 Timberland Bank Community Giving grant, which Carpenter applied for after noticing a resident repeatedly at the bus stop.
“One resident that is in a wheel chair, I swear, every time I pass and it’s raining, he’s sitting out there,” she said.
While purchasing a new shelter is an option, Carpenter added she was going to search around in other communities for a used one they might be able to get.
“If we can get something that’s used, and have a little bit of money (left over) to do any other, I don't know, any other finishing touches we need to around the bus area, that’s my intention,” Carpenter said.
Carpenter said she was looking into having the Bucoda Community Center and Town Hall placed on the state Department of Archaeology and Historic Preservation’s Washington Heritage Register, which would make more grant funding available to pay for much needed roof repairs.
Forming a neighborhood watch
As for why residents are considering forming a neighborhood watch, one resident in attendance at the council meeting brought up recent incidents involving a registered sex offender living in Bucoda.
According to the resident, the sex offender had been observed at an address different from the one they are registered at, and has also apparently been taking photos of children.
Thurston County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Malcolm McIver told the resident he would look into it, and also told them to call the sheriff’s non-emergency line to make a report if the sex offender was observed taking photos again.
Because of this, some discussion was also held about establishing an official Bucoda neighborhood watch, and putting up signs around town announcing it.
McIver stressed though that anyone who was a member of the watch must only observe and contact law enforcement.
“It would just more or less set up a group that could communicate and pass on information and keep track of things that are happening. There is zero enforcement action or anything that would be able to be done by the neighborhood watch,” McIver said. “(It) just basically organizes folks that want to be involved that want to be involved in keeping track and (taking) care of their town.”
The council was generally in favor of creation of the neighborhood watch, although Carpenter added it must be a community led effort as due to liability concerns, the town cannot be officially involved with the watch.
Haunted House gym usage and Boo-Coda Spook-Tacular growth
In June, it was announced the Boo-Coda Spook-Tacular Haunted House was being partially and temporarily broken down to make space inside the old gym building for children to both play in and get lunches through the Tenino Food Bank’s summer lunch program.
According to Carpenter, the gym, which is now open Tuesday through Thursday from 12:30 to 3 p.m. for children to use, has been having more than a few visitors.
“It’s been open for two weeks. This will be the third week it’s been open. The first week we had 45 kids dispersed between the three days, and last week we had 49,” Carpenter said.
She added some extra space within certain areas in the remaining Haunted House structure to make room for a foosball table and other games.
“Like I discussed during the last meeting, the Haunted House will be back up functional for Boo-Coda fest,” Carpenter added.
As for the Boo-Coda Spook-Tacular itself, close to an hour of discussion was also held on the issue of generating more tourism to create more revenue for the town after some of 2024’s events didn’t have as large a turnout as previous years.
Bucoda Town Councilor John Wood suggested possibly hosting concerts inside the Haunted House gym, an idea that he had pitched previously last month as well. This month, he also proposed starting a “Boo-tober Fest” Oktoberfest-style festival.
“If we have something so original, people are going to come, then they’re going to come and see … Then people will want to put shows in here and want to do stuff with us. This will be the name recognition, this will be why they do it. They’ll say, ‘Wow you guys really do stuff here, the whole Oktoberfest and Spook-Tacular thing,’ yeah, people would know where Bucoda is now,” Wood said. “I’ve lived here for three years and have friends in Olympia and Seattle, and none of them know where Bucoda is.”
Carpenter said she had been talking to the owner of Joe’s Place in Bucoda, who showed interest in the Oktoberfest style event and was looking into using the yard next to Joe’s as a beer garden. Carpenter also emphasized the importance of bringing in tourism revenue as well.
“I know that (Joe’s) really depends on what comes in (during) October to get them through the rest of the months of the year … People aren’t driving out here to go to Joe’s,” Carpenter said.
Discussion was also held about possibly hosting summer events in town to help generate tourism revenue throughout the year besides just in October.
To learn more about the Boo-Coda Spook-Tacular, visit its website at https://boo-coda.com/.
