SEVERAL SEASONAL EVENTS SET LOCALLY
This month, highly anticipated fall festivals are stirring up enchantment and people’s senses. Take your pick of haunted trails and autumn’s best treats featured at various fall events in the area. Or enjoy family-friendly favorites such as pumpkin trails, yard games, and live music.
Some of the options include:
Fall Fest
Get a jump on the fall fun by attending Fall Fest at Zona Rosa’s North Park, just south of Dillard’s. Beginning at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15, visitors can carve or paint pumpkins, play yard games from KC Crew, and listen to live music on the 37,000 sq. ft. green space in Zona Rosa. Fall happenings continue throughout the day with face painting, the Strawberry Swing Vendor Fair, and food trucks.
Tickets to sample beer and whiskey are available for purchase online for $15 per person plus tax.
Hocus Pocus in the Park
If relaxing under the stars is your idea of fun, watch the Disney Halloween classic: Hocus Pocus on Friday, Oct. 21 at Central Park in Zona Rosa.
The outdoor space provides the perfect setting to snuggle up in a blanket and enjoy this 1993 family-friendly movie starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Bette Midler, and Kathy Najimy.
When the kiddos start to get squirmy, there are plenty of opportunities for them to climb, slide, and play as playground equipment partially encompasses Central Park.
The movie starts at 7 p.m. but the family-friendly favorites begin at 5 p.m.
Come dressed in costumes, or don’t worry about the hassle. Children can enjoy trick-or-treating at participating merchants throughout Zona Rosa.
Just swing by the Zona tent at Central Park to pick up a list of participating stores and restaurants.
The annual event also includes free pictures with the Sanderson sisters from Hocus Pocus and a DJ providing exciting sound effects. Food and beverages will be available for purchase from the Herford House Burger & Brew Tent, Muffin Top Bakery dessert trailer, Topsy’s Popcorn, and Dizzy Blender.
Carved
The Riverside Area Chamber of Commerce is hosting an all-ages Halloween experience from 5:30-11 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 15 at Renner Brenner Park and Jumping Branch Trail. Visitors will immerse themselves in spooky Halloween fun and have unique encounters with talented fortune tellers, pirate fire performers, and tricky magicians. Entrance into the event is free, but two featured events are available for purchase.
Enjoy a fright and walk through the haunted trail or catch a glimpse of the sideshow performers. Tickets to the haunted trail and fortune teller can be purchased online through Universe or upon arrival for $20.
Children and their parents can meander through the kids’ spooky trail during the 5-and-a-half-hour event. In previous years, kiddos arrived in costumes of spooky space creatures, inflatable dinosaurs, and frightful witches. Many danced to their heart’s content, to a collection of hip-hop Halloween beats.
Food trucks and a tavern of terror will sell savory delights and delectable treats.
Ghost Stories
The Old Kate trail curves like a cat’s tail along White Alloe Creek. Here, inside the Parkville Nature Sanctuary, visitors celebrate Halloween by sharing ghost stories–some so spooky they give rise to the hairs on the back of the neck. At dusk, the sounds of rustling leaves in the wind, a crackling campfire in the Girl Scout Cabin, and owls screeching in the deep woods provide added background noises during this 3-hour family-friendly event.
This annual Parkville event will be held on Saturday, Oct. 29. The most frightful scenes visitors will experience are along the quarter-mile haunted trail. With ghoulish creatures and freaky mortals hidden in the dark of night, visitors take heed you may need to bring a flashlight. Along the way, visitors may see a voodoo doctor’s root cellar and an eight-foot cobweb with a hungry eight-legged critter nearby.
Looking for something not-so-scary? A Jack-O-lantern trail also leads visitors to the Girl Scout Cabin, where ghost stories will be shared in front of an open fire. Enjoy a s’more or two while listening to eerie tales and myths that are sure to keep even ghouls and witches on the edge of their seats.
The Kansas City Bear Fighters will perform live music and magician David Thornburg will perform a magic show. The event kicks off at 6 p.m., and the haunted trail opens at 7:15 p.m.
The event is free to the public and food will be provided as fuel for the brave attendees before they embark down one of two trails.
Additional parking will be available in Lot N located southeast of Park University’s Julian Field.
Fright Night
Fright Night is returning to Park University. The community Halloween celebration is open to the public and will take place from 6 p.m.-8 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 27 at the Copley Quad residence hall. This free event is open to all visitors, and children are encouraged to wear a Halloween costume of their choice. The event’s biggest draw is trick-or-treating inside the residence hall. After all, it’s all about the candy. The spectacular event also features fun kid games, Halloween contests, and face-painting booths. One year, a flash mob dressed as zombies surprised attendees with a dance to Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Visitors have said there’s always a lot to experience and enjoy at Fright Night.
Parking will be available in Lot N adjacent to Julian Field.