Mall at UTC celebrates start of school

With only a few days remaining before she began her third-grade year at Robert E. Willis Elementary School in Lakewood Ranch, Lakewood Ranch's Mackayla Blood was looking for something fun to compete her break.

She found a unicorn.

Or at least she had a unicorn painted on her face during The Mall of University Town Center's Back to School Bash on Aug. 15.

She picked the unicorn because it was going to completely cover her face.

"I was going to do a mermaid, but I realized it was going to be small," she said. "I wanted it on my whole face.

She and hundreds of other children enjoyed visiting vendor booths, watching live performances and even making tie-dyed face masks.