Haunted Quarry, BatFest add fun to Batavia this Saturday

If you have ever been at the Hall Quarry Beach at night, it's pretty scary. Add some ghosts and goblins and you have a really frightening night.

Haunted Quarry is at 7 p.m. Saturdays, Oct. 22 and 29, and costs $8 to enter. Children younger than 10 will not be admitted. The park district-sponsored event has scary music, special effects and a complete cast of volunteer actors who will give you a good scare.

The Haunted Quarry received a 4.5 out of 5 for creativity and a good fright from the Horror Tourers, a group of haunted house reviewers.

This is a great addition to BatFest, Batavia's downtown Halloween celebration that runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct 22.

BatFest is definitely one of the top family events sponsored by Batavia MainStreet. Besides the popular Mothers Club kids' costume parade, there is downtown trick-or-treating, fun at the marshmallow shooting range, pumpkin seed spitting, the pumpkin roll and the pumpkin-carving contest. There are games to win, stories, hayrides and plenty of good old family fun.

If you want to just come and enjoy some entertainment, head to the main stage. Be sure to arrive early because the Batavia Farmers Market is at the Riverwalk as well. Downtown Batavia is the place to be this Saturday.

Scouts, Legos and coins:

I was on my way to St. Charles to pick up a coin at Anderson's Coin Shop and I realized I had forgotten my phone. I had no idea where the shop was. I knew I needed to either ask someone or head back to Batavia.

I headed to the customer service desk at the Blue Goose Market and asked the helpful ladies at the desk for help. Not only did they look up the address for me, they printed out the directions. Thank you for being so helpful.

On the way out of the Blue Goose, I encountered three industrious salesmen trying to sell popcorn for Cub Scout Pack 251. Eager to get me to buy popcorn items I had already purchased from my nephew's 7-year-old son, they had a hard time getting the sale.

Desean Coleman Jr., age 7, gave me his best sales pitch. When I declined, Abaan Farouuqi, 5, was quick to add, "We take donations and we take credit cards!"

After the sale, the boys were going to a meeting where they would be shooting off rockets. I asked how high the rockets go and Geo Spyrnal, age 7, told me the rockets could go as high as the wind as long a you said the important words, "10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1."

You'll see Scouts out with their parents selling popcorn. They deserve your support or at least a conversation with them.

I finally made it to Anderson's and was fascinated with the coin shop on Main Street, not only for the coins but also for the collection of Legos.

"We're the largest buyer and seller of used Legos in the Chicago area," said owner Rob Anderson.

What a fascinating collection of Legos.

Keeping kids warm:

Recently, some Holmstad residents participated in a United Way effort to distribute snowsuits and coats to needy kids. All the winter apparel was donated by Snowsuits for Kids, an online business located in Batavia and owned by Michael and Judy Hudleston.

"We have two kids involved in Batavia schools and are fully vested in raising our family here," said Michael. "Batavia is a great place to live and we decided that we wanted donate this apparel as a way to give back to our community."

Three ladies from the Holmstad - Elaine Schmidt, Mary Ashton and Mary Alice Sierawski - were joined by United Way volunteer Rosemarie Dillon to sort and pack up 150 snow suits for distribution by United Way.

First-place finisher:

There's a new champion in town. Katrina Schlenker, a seventh-grader at Rotolo Middle School placed first at the state cross country meet.

Arboretum rededication:

Don't miss the rededication of the Batavia arboretum at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 22, at the high school property. The improvements include new signs that tell the species of each tree and the list of people who are memorialized there. After so much discussion on this, it's good to see this happen.

Where are the signs?

Retired teacher, Shirley Fox, made a great observation last week.

"I don't see a lot of presidential campaign signs for either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump in Batavia," she said. "Either people can't commit or they won't admit."