Therapeutic Recreation Day provides social outlet at Carroll Farm Museum

More than 400 people attended the annual Therapeutic Recreation Day at the Carroll County Farm Museum this week.

The family fun event was first held in 1989 and provides a social outlet for disabled adults via adaptive and modified games, corn hole, a demonstration of birds of prey from the Bear Branch Nature Center and creepy crawly animals from Piney Run Park, as well as balloon creations, a magician, food, music, dancing, giveaways and more.

“The community has really come and has gotten a whole lot better in the past couple decades, as far as offering programs and recreational activities for this population,” Carroll County Department of Recreation and Parks therapeutic recreation specialist Ann Marie Foster said.

Therapeutic Recreation Day does not have a government-funded budget, and the $10 cost of admission does not cover the cost of feeding everyone, Foster said. The event is supported by sponsors, and by discounted vendor rates or donations of signs and tents.

It is important to keep the cost of attending low, Foster added, because many disabled adults have a fixed income.

“It’s the sponsors and the vendor support that make this happen,” Foster said. “It’s everyone working together.”

Eva Huether, 25, and Gabrielle Douglas, 24, both of whom have Down syndrome, had a good time hanging out at the event, said support professional Julianna Welker, 28, of Westminster.

“It was great,” Huether said. “I love dancing and cornhole.”

“I love to dance as well,” Douglas said.

Welker said she has attended Therapeutic Recreation Day several times and appreciates that it provides disabled adults a much-needed opportunity to socialize, seeing old friends and making new ones.

“It’s a sense of community and a chance to socialize, and definitely work on social skills, and to enjoy and have a good time,” Welker said. “If there’s music and a dance floor, you betcha everyone’s gonna be out there. It brings people together, not to mention the great food.”

The dance floor at this year’s event was particularly lively, as the Parks and Recreation dance instructor and belly dancer known as Khandi, 72, of Mount Airy, brought seven belly-dancing friends to engage the crowd and get the party started. Khandi said she has been belly dancing since her early 20s but had not taught the art until last year’s Therapeutic Recreation Day. She was more than happy to return for more.

“Everybody can relate to music and movement, and we had people who are non-verbal here today, but they hear the music and they move to the music. It’s like a universal language,” Khanid said. “No matter where you’re from, good music will stir something inside and bring people together.”

Donna Long, of Westminster, is the mother of Derek Long, 24, who has developmental delays caused by hydrocephalus, a neurological disorder caused by an abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain’s ventricles, according to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

She discovered the event three years ago and plans to bring her son every year. Derek sees his old friends from high school and the Special Olympics at the event each year, Donna Long said, and that socialization is critically important to him.

“He gets to see all of his friends, he loves the music, and just the ability to be out here,” Donna Long said while her son danced to “Cotton-Eyed Joe” and “Love Shack.”

Donna Long said it is great to have animals present, because many attendees are interested in animals but uncomfortable going to a nature center or lack the ability to do so.

Although attendance increased from last year, Foster said Therapeutic Recreation Day 2025 will be scheduled after the start of summer vacation for public school students, to draw that crowd and their families, as the event did in 2023.

“I just see it growing and growing and growing,” Foster said.