Fall festival draws families to Lombard

Michele Mahoney packed daughters Megan and Morgan into her van Saturday and headed to the Lombard Fall Festival from their Hanover Park home.

"We came last year. We wanted to wear our costumes," said Mahoney. "We've got everybody dressed up and ready to walk around. We had so much fun last year."

As she talked, 5-year-old Megan, wearing a witch's pointy purple hat, playfully chased her 3-year-old sister, a tiny pumpkin with legs. Their friend, Daniel Berry of Bloomingdale, a 5-year-old ninja-for-the-day, joined in the pursuit. He was there with his mother, Linda.

"They like the games," said Mahoney, as all five of them headed over to the games set up on the basketball court in Lombard Common. "They're easy, little-kid games they can play."

Devin Schaeffer, 10, of Lombard, deftly pitched three whiffle balls through the target, a faux potty seat. The game attendant told him he was entitled to three prizes.

"Oh, sweet," he said.

He chose a piece of bubble gum, a jawbreaker and a toy top as his mother, Debbie, looked on. At the next game table, Devin's 6-year-old sister, Megan, was having similar success at knocking down tin cans with bean bags.

Andrea Province and her daughter, 5-year-old Amber, accompanied the Schaeffers to the festival.

"She loves this, just getting ready for Halloween," said Province about Amber. "She's real excited."

The festival, an annual fall staple presented by the Lombard Park District, also featured pony and hayrides, face painting, a magician and juggler, a family photographer and an inflatable ride. The evening schedule offered a haunted hike.

Early in the day, park district arts teacher Scott Wiegel plucked 400 miniature pumpkins from a bin and arranged them on a table laden with acrylic paints.

As the sky clouded over and a pleasant nip rippled through the air, Wiegel painted silly faces on a few of the gourds. It wasn't long before a crowd began to gather to claim their pumpkins and make their own artistic statements, following Wiegel's example.

"They all like to do pumpkins," Wiegel said.