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Harvest Celebration to take over town

October 19, 2016   ·   0 Comments

Halloween is coming a week early for the kids of Orangeville as the local chapter of the Business Improvement Area (BIA) prepares to host its annual Harvest Celebration.

The special “family-fun” oriented event kicks off this Saturday (Oct. 22) and includes the final outdoor farmer’s market of the season as well as a ‘spooktacular’ Tiny Tots Trick or Treating extravaganza. The farmer’s market kicks off at 8 a.m. while businesses along Broadway will open their doors from 10 a.m. until noon to dish candy out by the handful to what event organizer Alison Scheel hopes will be hundreds of excited local children.

Now well into its second decade in Orangeville, the annual celebration is building a reputation as being one of the region’s premier fall events. Scheel, Executive Director of the OBIA, is looking forward to what she expects will be another “fabulous” weekend’s worth of festivities.

“Every year we do several events in an attempt to bring people to the downtown area and the harvest celebration is one we’ve had a lot of success with,” Scheel told the Citizen this week. “The overall idea is that it marks the end of the outdoor market season, but we’ve branched out a little over the years and made it a real small-town family fun event.”

As well as the traditional market and trick or treating, Scheel says there will be a free face painting booth set up at the hub of the celebration – the parking lot across from Town Hall – while also promising a “perfectly petrifying” experience at the Orangeville Dojo on Second Street. People will also have the chance to vote for their favourite farmer’s market vendor, with most expected to don Halloween costumes of their own, favourite downtown scarecrow and favourite ‘jack o lantern’ for a chance to win a $100 downtown shopping spree.

After drawing over 6,000 people to last year’s Harvest Celebration, Scheel is hoping to see even more families out this time around. Although forecasts are predicting a fairly chilly day, with temperatures expecting to drop dangerously close to freezing, the fun to be had will more than make up for the whipping winds of impending winter.

“It’s a short little time, but it’s always a really fun day,” Scheel said. “No matter if it’s snowing, which it has, or if it’s raining, and it has, there are always kids out. It amazes me each and every year just how strong a response we get to this celebration. I fully expect we’ll have 1,500 trick or treaters out having a whole lot of fun.”

She concluded, “It’s going to be an awesome morning. I can’t wait!”

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