This year, the 15th annual Fall Festival in Elizabethtown is providing entertainment, crafts, vendors, food and activities for the whole family. This community event is presented by Greater Elizabethtown Area Recreation & Community Services (GEARS).
Fall Festival is also held in conjunction with Etown’s ‘Into the Streets,’ with GEARS receiving help from multiple students in the planning process for the event as well as volunteers on the day of the event.
Etown sophomore Hunter Youngblood is a Bonner Leader who works at GEARS for his community partner placement. Youngblood works in the senior center, where independent seniors come to GEARS to play games, hang out and talk with other seniors. “GEARS gives seniors an opportunity to get out, socialize, and interact with the community. It inspires me to do good for the community as well, and keep helping others,” Youngblood said.
For Fall Fest, the senior center is holding Bingo all morning. “This Friday, the seniors are going to the Etown Fair Grounds to help set-up for the big event on Saturday. They are all very excited and love bingo,” Youngblood said. “If you want to purchase a wristband, you can play unlimited Bingo all morning.” Bingo at Fall Fest will be open to the community, with bingo cards available for just 25 cents.
Fall Fest is just one of the multiple events that GEARS hosts throughout the year, with their mission to give back to the community. “I’m really looking forward to being at the event again this year. Last year, I worked at one of the bounce houses and collected tickets. I enjoyed seeing families and community members enjoy the event and make memories,” Youngblood said.
Junior Hannah Sharp is also a Bonner Leader that is helping out with Fall Fest for her third year. Sharp is a Student Office Assistant at Etown for the Center for Community and Civic Engagement. Sharp is the coordinator for communication between Etown and GEARS.
“I’m organizing clubs that do crafts and game operators. I am in constant communication with our Etown students helping at the event and GEARS,” Sharp said. Etown has five different clubs that help at Fall Fest and provides nine different free crafts for families.
According to Sharp, this year the men’s basketball team is running a food stand, and the wrestling team is running the Haunted Barn. Sharp also added that Etown’s music therapy group, Alpha Mu, is providing free music therapy activities for community members, bringing their own instruments and doing a variety of demonstrations including basic motor skills and more. This year Etown’s new line dancing club, The Boot Scootin Jays, will be at Fall Fest all day to help run free line dancing for the community.
“I love getting to plan Fall Fest and see the event come to life. I’m looking forward to seeing how excited the kids are to participate in the activities. One of the best parts about Fall Fest is that it is free and accessible to the entire community,” Sharp said. “It’s impactful to see college students getting involved off campus and giving up their Saturday to do work for others.”
The Fall Festival in Elizabethtown is welcoming vendors like Hitch Coffee, MAD BBQ Food Truck, Philly Cheesesteak Co. on the Roll Food Truck and many more. There will also be various games and activities including a bounce house, inflatable obstacle course, pumpkin painting, hayride and more.
The 15th annual Fall Festival presented by GEARS and Etown’s Into the Streets is this Saturday, Oct. 18th from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Elizabethtown Fair Grounds.
