West Chester Township’s annual Great Pumpkin Fest will take place this Saturday, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Keehner Park. The fall festival includes family-friendly activities for children such as a variety of inflatable rides, crafts, pony rides and a petting zoo from Honey Hill Farm.
The Great Pumpkin Fest will once again also feature a not-so-scary haunted trail and a costume contest.
The Primrose School of West Chester costume contest begins at 3 p.m. on the amphitheatre stage. Registration for the contest begins at 2 p.m., and children will be entered into categories based on age.
West Chester Township police and fire departments will also be on hand with important safety information for families.
Concessions and some trinkets will be on sale at the event, but all activities at Pumpkin Fest are free.
Keehner Park is located at 7211 Barret Road in West Chester.
Meg, Anna, Nolan and Rob Runkle of West Chester participate in the 5K Run Like Hell, which helps raise money to fight Cystic Fibrosis. File photo.
Once again, children in West Chester and Liberty townships will share the same trick-or-treat hours on Oct. 31. The annual holiday celebration will take place from 6 to 8 p.m.
This year, Halloween falls on a Wednesday.
For those looking to get an early start, Bridgewater Falls will host a free trick-or-treat event on Sunday, Oct. 28, from 1 to 4 p.m.
At the event, children will need to check-in by the fountain in front of La Pinata and Cold Stone Creamery. There, children will receive a trick-or-treat bag and a list of merchants participating in the event.
West Chester Township’s annual Great Pumpkin Fest will take place this year Oct. 13, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Keehner Park. The fall festival includes family-friendly activities for children such as a variety of inflatable rides, crafts, pony rides and a petting zoo from Honey Hill Farm.
The Great Pumpkin Fest will once again also feature a not-so-scary haunted trail and a costume contest.
The Primrose School of West Chester costume contest begins at 3 p.m. on the amphitheatre stage. Registration for the contest begins at 2 p.m., and children will be entered into categories based on age.
West Chester Township police and fire departments will also be on hand with important safety information for families.
Concessions and some trinkets will be on sale at the event, but all activities at Pumpkin Fest are free.
Keehner Park is located at 7211 Barret Road in West Chester.
EnterTRAINment Junction in West Chester will open its newest holiday attraction, “Jack-O-Lantern Junction,” next Saturday, Sept. 22. The attraction, which is family friendly, will be available for the next six weeks to celebrate Halloween.
The attraction features a walk-through trick-or-treat maze with ghosts, skeletons and cobwebs. It also features an indoor pumpkin patch, multiple treat stations and a talking pumpkin.
Outdoors, the attraction offers a straw maze and train rides, including Halloween themed hand-cranked train cars plus a 1,000+ foot electric train ride skirting the outside of the building. Train rides operate weather permitting.
The rest of EnterTRAINment Junction will also be open, including its model train display and its A-Maze-N Funhouse attraction.
EnterTRAINment Junction is open seven days a week. Halloween activities begin Sept. 24 and run through Oct. 31. Hours are 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday, noon to 6 p.m. Sunday.
Attraction pricing starts at $9.95. No charge for kids under age 2, and parking is free.
EnterTRAINment Junction is located at 7379 Squire Court West Chester, off I-75, at the Tylersville Road exit (#22).
After the Christmas Walk, sponsored by the Merchants of Olde West Chester, there will be a holiday parade on Cincinnati-Dayton Road and that ends with a tree lighting ceremony at the Township Administration building.
Olde West Chester Christmas Walk schedule
1 to 5 p.m. – visit with Santa at the North Pole Annex
1 p.m. – cookie walk at West Chester Presbyterian Church
4 to 7 p.m. – chili dinner at St. Johns Catholic Church
5 to 7 p.m. – tethered hot air balloon rides, Bella Balloons
7 p.m. – Parade from Union Day School to Township Administration building
7:45 p.m. – lighting of the community Christmas tree at administration building
(At the top of every hour) –children’s story time at the One Stop Christmas Shop
Christmas Walk music schedule in the gazebo
1 to 2 p.m. – Midnight Rose (Celtic trio, harp, violin, flute)
2:15 to 3:15 p.m. – Runnin’ on Empty (singing trio)
3:30 to 4:30 p.m. – Rob and Ross (singers and guitarists)
4:45 to 5:45 p.m. – Mauki McGruder (jazz group)
6 to 7 p.m. – West Chester Jazz Dogz (jazz quintet)
As in years past, all interested participants are invited to join in the parade. The Grand Marshals of this year’s parade will come from each of these categories. A representative from each branch of the military will be honored, as well as community volunteer Ann Frazier.
West Chester Township will have its annual Christmas walk, holiday parade and tree lighting ceremony this Saturday.
The parade is held in conjunction with the Olde West Chester Christmas Walk, sponsored by the Merchants of Olde West Chester. The event features entertainment, crafts, activities and shopping for those looking to get their holiday shopping completed early. The Christmas walk begins at 1 p.m.
The parade will begin at Union Day School at 7 p.m. and will work its way down Cincinnati-Dayton Road toward the Township Administration building, where the community tree will be illuminated at 8 p.m.
As in years past, all interested participants are invited to join in the parade. The Grand Marshals of this year’s parade will come from each of these categories. A representative from each branch of the military will be honored, as well as community volunteer Ann Frazier.
Children in West Chester Township and Liberty Township can go trick-or-treating between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. tonight, Oct. 31. In the future years, both townships will likely keep the same hours and same date.
Last year, West Chester Township administrator Judith Boyko made a motion in a trustees meeting to establish trick-or-treat hours every year from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 31. The board of trustees approved the motion.
At that time, Boyko said “in the 18 years” she had been working in the township, the board had “never diverted from Halloween as the trick-or-treat date.”
A future board can change this agreement, but it appears trick-or-treating will always take place on the same date and at the same time every fall.
Meanwhile, Liberty Township administrator Dina Minneci made the decision to have trick-or-treating take place Oct. 31 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. in August after getting numerous inquires from residents.
The two townships both celebrated Halloween with the same hours on the same date (Oct. 31) last year, which fell on a Sunday.
There is an unlit stretch of road leading to a bridge in Liberty Township that is considered by many in the area to be haunted.
“The thing about this place is that if you ask 10 different people who grew up in this area – nine will give you a different story that goes with the bridge,” said Rick Fenbers of the Cincinnati Regional Association for Paranormal Studies (CRAPS) about the Screaming Bridge on Maud Hughes Road.
The most common tales local residents share with Fenbers are of a screaming woman or a baby crying. He has also heard stories of a phantom train that disappears suddenly before it gets to the bridge.
The stories stem from legends of fatalities near or around the bridge.
According to Fenbers, one legend involves a woman who screamed all the way to her death when she fell off the bridge during an argument with her boyfriend. Another version of that story involves the couples’ car breaking down – when the boyfriend left to get help and returned, he found his girlfriend hanging by her neck from the bridge.
To explain the crying baby, another version of the story claims that a woman threw her newborn baby from the bridge and then hung herself.
The story of the phantom train, according to Fenbers, comes from an accident that caused the death of two men after a locomotive exploded between West Chester and Gano in 1909.
“I have had a few people say they have seen the hanging woman and the train light. Yes this is a working track, but they say the train disappears before it gets there. People have also heard the baby screaming or a woman screaming,” Fenbers said. “I would love to hear that myself. That is why I come here.” (more…)
West Chester Township will have its annual holiday parade and tree lighting Nov. 19.
The parade is held in conjunction with the Olde West Chester Christmas Walk, sponsored by the Merchants of Olde West Chester. The event features entertainment, crafts, activities and shopping for those looking to get their holiday shopping completed early.
The parade will begin at Union Day School at 7 p.m. and will work its way down Cincinnati-Dayton Road toward the Township Administration building, where the community tree will be illuminated at 8 p.m.
As in years past, all interested participants are invited to join in the parade. The Grand Marshals of this year’s parade will come from each of these categories. A representative from each branch of the military will be honored, as well as community volunteer Ann Frazier.
West Chester Family Dentistry, located at 9000 Cincinnati-Dayton Road, will host its “treat your teeth” costume party Halloween extravaganza this Thursday from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
The party will give parents and children the opportunity to learn more about Halloween safety as well as participate in a wide range of activities including a costume contest, story time from a friendly witch, an air bounce for children, finger printing with the West Chester Police, air-brush tattoos and giveaways.
There will also be music by DJ Yung, children’s games, cheesy nachos, a fire engine truck from the West Chester Fire Department and the opportunity to have a free picture taken by a professional photographer.
A real alligator from Aquatic and Exotics will also be at the holiday event.
Community members in attendance who bring a canned food item for Reach Out Lakota will receive an extra door prize ticket.
The Great Pumpkin Fest will once again also feature a not-so-scary haunted trail and a costume contest.
