These Fort Mill kids aren’t using ordinary wheelchairs. They’re magic

There were many local costume contests over the weekend, including at the Baxter Village Fall Festival and Market Day, but York County kids Steven Hollenbeck and Arianna Springsteen had arguably the coolest costumes in the entire state built just for them.

The Chelsea and Savannah art program at the Fort Mill chapter of the Boys & Girls Club partnered with the non-profit Magic Wheelchair to build Halloween costumes around the kids’ wheelchairs – the Batmobile for Steven, a.k.a Batman and an Owl Glider for Arianna, a.k.a. Owlette of the Disney Junior cartoon “PJ Masks.”

After the big reveal at the Baxter Festival, the smiles never stopped for “Batman” and “Owlette.”

“It looks so pretty!” Arianna, 7, marveled. “I love the jewels on the owl, it has eyes and a mouth. I’m excited to fly my glider!”

Hollie Hollenbeck, Steven’s mom, dressed up as “Batgirl” and her other kids, Andy and Darrel Earney, ages 6 and 10, dressed up as Robin and The Joker.

“It’s amazing,” Hollenbeck said. “I’m sure (Steven’s) in hog heaven right now.”

“It’s awesome,” said Steven, 12, taking it all in as festival-goers gathered around the Batmobile. “It’s cool because I’m a big fan of Batman.”

The children at the Boys & Girls Club after-school program at Springfield Elementary School take art classes with Chelsea and Savannah twice a week. The program – as well as the Batmobile and the Owl Glider – is funded by Tega Cay residents Jim and Heather Harper of Harper Corporation.

“(Magic Wheelchair) is an opportunity for (kids with special needs) to be the center of attention, because they aren’t normally,” said Tracey Hartzog, co-owner of Chelsea and Savannah. “We are the only (Magic Wheelchair) South Carolina team this year and the only elementary school team.”

In building the costumes, the children learned to work together toward a common goal. The Boys & Girls Club art students also had the opportunity to meet Steven and Arianna.

Above and beyond the art skills learned through the project, Hartzog said, the children learned empathy for children with special needs.

“Empathy is learned really early and if you don’t learn empathy early on (in life,) you won’t learn empathy,” Hartzog said. “It’s much more than just a piece of paper.”

The art students worked tirelessly to bring the project to fruition, Hartzog said, putting in four hours a week of work since June.

“It was worth it,” Hartzog said. “We want to do ten more (costumes) next year.”

After the reveal, it was time to cruise the festival and gear up for Halloween night.

“I’m going trick-or-treating,” said Arianna – er, Owlette.

And with an epic costume built just for her, she was ready to do just that.

“It meant the whole world to her,” said Rachel Springsteen, Arianna’s mom.

Abi Goodwin, Arianna’s grandma, agreed.

“To see her light up like that…it was amazing,” Goodwin said.

For more information, visit magicwheelchair.org.

This story was originally published October 31, 2016 at 2:01 PM with the headline "These Fort Mill kids aren’t using ordinary wheelchairs. They’re magic."