More treats than tricks at Elmhurst Fall Fest
Family Fall Fest revelers may remember the fun they had at the 2016 Elmhurst Park District festival.
With an estimated crowd of between 1,800 and 2,000, the turnout represented an exponential jump in interest, said Pat O'Neill, the district's community events and development manager.
But no one fondly recalls the 2017 festival because there wasn't one. Torrential rains forced its cancellation.
"It was devastating," O'Neill said. "We were totally ready for it (the fest)."
One way the staff had readied for the seasonal event that never materialized was by amassing a large amount of Halloween candy.
Happily, the staff also was ready with contingency plans and the sweets made it into the hands of youngsters through a quickly organized trick-or-treating event for the youngest costumed festivalgoers early on Halloween afternoon, before their siblings came home from school, at the district's Safety Town.
Safety Town, a miniature re-creation of a town, complete with a bank, a car wash and railroad tracks, was built in Wild Meadows Trace Park, 511 S. York St., to provide a safe way for children to learn bicycle and pedestrian safety practices.
This year, organizers plan to combine a trick-or-treating session at Safety Town with the Fall Family Fest from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13, - provided, of course, that this year's weather is a notch above last year's.
The festival will offer a variety of fall games, O'Neill said, including a bean bag toss, a mini-putt golf game, Connect 4 and a game called "pumpkin pitch" that challenges players to pitch a ball into a giant pumpkin mouth.
Six food trucks also will be on hand and food choices will include Mexican dishes, barbecued sandwiches and desserts such as those prepared by Smallcakes A Cupcakery Elmhurst.
There will be an inflatable haunted house maze, a balloon artist and face painting.
Because face painting tends to draw large crowds and long lines, the park district is adding an airbrush tattoo artist as an alternative.
"It's just a different way of giving them a chance to do something unique," O'Neill said.
Parents need not be concerned because the tattoos are temporary.
Free photo opportunities will be available, complete with autumn-themed backdrops decorated with hay bales and pumpkins.
Members of the Elmhurst Kiwanis Club and the Elmhurst Lions Club will be on hand to help out and deliver decorative pumpkins.
Parking will be available on surrounding streets and in the lots south of the Prairie Path and at York Commons.
If you go
What: Family Fall Fest
Where: Wild Meadows Trace Park, 511 S. York St., Elmhurst
When: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 13
Cost: Free
Info: www.epd.org