PENDLETON — A new fall event in Falls Park — Boo Bash — is set for 4 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 23, including Halloween-inspired activities, including pumpkin carving and costume contests, trunk or treating, and a haunted house.
Even the way the event came about seems a little scary.
“I guess it’s an idea I had and it just kind of exploded,” said organizer Bobbi Cline, who is secretary at the Falls Park office.
The majority of the activities will be set up at the north entrance to the park. The parking lot off Pendleton Avenue by the Red Barn and log cabin will be closed, and the trunk or treating will be set up there.
Parking will be permitted at the Pendleton Police Station and across the street from it on town property. There will be a hay ride offering people a lift along the upper trail in the woods to the event area. People can also park anywhere else in the park and walk through the trails — which will be decorated — to the event area, or follow signs to a point where they can catch the hay ride.
Other activities will include:
• A pumpkin patch, where people can purchase locally grown pumpkins, will be near the cabin.
• About a dozen vendors, who will be selling food, including K-Burgers, and wares.
The haunted house will be in the Red Barn, run by members of the Pendleton Heights Marching Arabians as a fundraiser, by donation.
“I’m so excited. It’s going to be so much fun,” Cline said. “I really wanted to make it a community thing. I wanted to bring in as many people as I could.”
Groups participating include Pendleton Lions Club, Pendleton Kiwanis Club, Friends of Falls Park and a Pendleton Jeep club.
Cline said there are 35 people signed up for trunk or treating, with the Lions Club judging decorated trunks and awarding prizes for Most Creative, Scariest and Funniest.
Pumpkin carving entries must be submitted by 5 p.m. that day. Judging will take place at 5:30 p.m. in three age groups: 10 and younger; 11 to 17; and 18 and older.
Costume contest judging will take place at 6 p.m. Contestants need only to be present at the log cabin at that time to participate. Age groups for the contest are 5 and younger; 6-12; 13-17; and 18 and older.
Aside from purchases from vendors and the pumpkin patch, and free-will donations to the band at the haunted house, there is no charge for activities, Cline said.
For more details, visit Pendleton Falls Park on Facebook or call the park office at 765-778-2222.