Children have a good time playing in foam provided by the Foam Garage.

Hurricane’s Spring Festival brought crowds to Main Street on Saturday, May 6. The event offered games for children, shopping opportunities for parents, and a little something for everyone.

Messy Desk, located on Dudding Avenue, offered crafts for all ages, and the Foam Garage brought out its foam machine for children to have some wet, soapy fun. Several popular food trucks were present, as well as craft vendors. Social Event Space, a new event venue which will be coming to Main Street this summer, offered balloon crafts, with 382 balloons being customized over the course of the day. The Putnam County Library, Putnam Wellness Coalition, and other local organizations were also represented at the festival.

The featured event at the festival was a reptile show put on by the Reptile House & Rescue, West Virginia’s only nonprofit dedicated no kill animal shelter and rescue for reptiles and amphibians. Throughout the afternoon, festival goers could interact with snakes and other reptiles under the supervision of volunteers, as well as pose for photos with scaly friends. Andy McKee, owner of the Reptile House, hosted a presentation in which he showed snakes, turtles, lizards, and other reptiles to a fascinated audience and told a bit about the background of each animal and its unique species.

McKee also made an important announcement during the festival: The Reptile House & Rescue will be moving into the former Commons building at Valley Park, transforming it into the Zoology Zone Science Center. The Reptile House is currently located at the Huntington Mall, where it is a popular attraction.

Visitors came seeking fun and went home with memories and first hand encounters with foam and snakes that were part of this year’s Spring Festival.