Fall fun at Walnut Creek's second annual fall festival
By Kyle Valentini
September 25, 2011
359
Summary: The second annual Walnut Creek Fall Festival was a popular destination for local residents and travelers last weekend. With delicious food, an animal exhibit, straw slide, corn box and even pumpkin slingshots to keep every member of the family entertained. Fellowship and fun were apparent as the village welcomed fall in traditional Holmes County style.
The second annual Walnut Creek Fall Festival was held September 23-24 at Walnut Creek near Stutzmans Crossing, Holmes Countys only covered bridge. Visitors greeted falls arrival at the free festival sponsored by the Walnut Creek Community Council, The Farm at Walnut Creek and Walnut Creek Cheese.
The two day event included food, a straw slide, corn box, fall decorations, childrens games, face painting, blacksmithing and horse shoeing demonstrations, pumpkin slingshots, an animal exhibit and the Great Duck Race with a $200 prize.
Although only in its second year, the event is fast becoming a favorite destination. We had people asking us in March if and when we were going to do another festival, said Bruce King, General Manager at Walnut Creek Cheese and one of the events coordinators. Its so nice to see such a nice mix of families from near and far away come here today to support the community.
Dr. Joe and Ashley Varga serve on Walnut Creek Community Council. Last year we thought it would be a great idea to hold an event that involved the whole community. We received a lot of support from local merchants willing to sponsor and of course, the Farm at Walnut Creek and Walnut Creek Cheese, said Mrs. Varga.
A delicious meal of chicken roasted over hot coals was served with fresh sweet corn, potato salad, baked beans and an assortment of pies for dessert. The meal was available for a donation and visitors generously placed their contributions in the donation jar.
The food was provided by the Walnut Creek Community Council and Walnut Creek Cheese.
The straw slide was a favorite for the kids as they climbed to the top of the towering structure to one of four slides that would speedily send them into a soft pile of straw. Kids and even some brave adults made multiple trips up and down the popular attraction.
In the corn box traditional sand is replaced with corn for a sensory experience that children of all ages enjoyed. Parents and grandparents watched as stocking-footed kids jumped in, buried themselves and filled buckets with the dried corn.
The animal exhibit was provided by The Farm at Walnut Creek. The exhibit featured llamas, dromedary camels, a giraffe, Suffolk sheep, ostrich, Sicilian donkeys, a zebra, a blue and gold macaw, an African Sur thigh tortoise, a red kangaroo that spent much of the day sleeping and others.
The animals were kept in clean, spacious pens that allowed visitors to feed and touch them while a representative from the farm answered questions and shared information about each animal that calls Walnut Creek home.
Emery Stutzman of Barrs Mills demonstrated his farrier and blacksmithing techniques as he removed old shoes and replaced them with new ones on horses from The Farm at Walnut Creek. With a gentle hand, Stutzman guided horses into a wooden frame that allows the farrier to re-shoe the horse more efficiently. The 13 year veteran said the process causes no pain to the horse and must be repeated every 8-10 weeks, depending on the amount of wear.
Traffic slowed on Route 39 as drivers noticed pumpkins being flung through the air on one of three pumpkin slingshots. The goal was to aim the projectile pumpkin at a white pumpkin atop a vintage milk can. Those knocking the white pumpkin off the milk can received a free pass to The Farm at Walnut Creek. The task proved to be more difficult than participants imagined and some repeatedly purchased small pumpkins for a dollar at the produce stand to attempt to hit the target.
A slingshot for kids was designed to be a bit easier with a shorter distance to the target. These kids impress me, said King. If they are not strong enough to pull the slingshot back a group of two or three will work on it together. Thats teamwork.
The annual festival will be held the weekend before the popular Swiss Festival at Sugarcreek each year. The Walnut Creek Community Councils next sponsored event will be Trick-or-Treat on October 31 from 5:30-7:00 throughout the village.
