EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WEHT) — Tuesday marked the 2023 West Side Nut Club Fall Festival edition of “Special Kids Day.”

Tuesday is just one of the days in the 2023-2024 school year where some area students with special needs have time away from the classroom enjoy Fall Festival for themselves.

Some Nut Clubbers tell Eyewitness News that Special Kids Day is among the events they like every year.

“This is the greatest day that we can possibly have,” Nut Clubber Brandon McClish said. “A lot of these kids have been coming here for many years. You can see they have the same bolos year after year. This is so exciting for all the kids — all the community.”

1,000 of the area students were able to play games and ride the festival’s rides for free — like a merry-go-round, a flying bee ride and a giant slide.

Some of the students — like Hayden Hollis and Teresa Roy — had the chance to go on rides and even score some of the famous Fall Festival munchies.

Central High School senior Madelyn Neidlinger tells Eyewitness News she had fun at the Fall Festival, and she was able to play the games at the festival.

“I like coming down here to the Fall Festival,” Boonville High School student Tristan Conner said. “It’s really fun. I like riding the rides, eating the food, playing the games. It’s just really fun being down here for the Fall Festival.”

The Evansville-Vanderburgh School Corporation leaders say it is important to have Special Kids Day because many of the students would not be able to come to the Fall Festival otherwise.

“The crowds are really heightened; there’s a lot of people; A lot of the kids have sensory needs too, and, so, having a day like this where it is less crowds, less traffic and less of the general public really helps our special needs kids able to get what they need from the rides and the food and just everything,” EVSC Life Skills Coordinator Betsy Schmidt said.

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