A6 • Friday, October 29, 2021 | Seaside Signal | SeasideSignal.com
Fall Fun Fest: Families enjoy costume fun, Halloween treats at recreation center
Continued from Page A1
She estimated about 200
attendees fi ltered through the
event over the course of the
afternoon, not to mention the
30 volunteers who were inte-
gral to running the festival,
from checking people in and
collecting COVID-19 waiv-
ers to overseeing the pump-
kin-decorating and other
activities.
“Those events are so huge,
you really can’t do it without
the volunteers,” Ousley said.
Community
Among the volunteers
were young people from
Seaside High School’s Key
Club and Seaside Middle
School’s Builders Club, both
of which are affi liated with
Kiwanis International.
Volunteering for local
events, such as the Fall Fun
Fest, “shows that kids can
play a part in their commu-
nity,” said Jennifer Gooch,
faculty advisor for the Build-
ers Club. “It’s good to give
them that feeling of what it’s
like to give back.”
The festival was the fi rst
event for which club mem-
bers have volunteered this
school year, with other com-
munity-based activities, like
beach cleanups and fund-
raising for the recreation dis-
trict’s scholarship program,
on the horizon. The club is
focused on rebuilding and
recruiting new members
after not being as active last
school year because of the
pandemic.
Club president Mya Fee-
ney, who’s been in a club two
years, spent the afternoon
running carnival games and
handing out prizes to exuber-
ant young participants.
“It’s nice to see when
people are smiling and that
you’re making their day,”
she said. “I just like helping
others.”
Sixth-grader
Juliana
Olsen, who was oversee-
ing the photo booth with her
friends Isabella Page and
Lila Thornburg, shared a
similar sentiment about her
experience volunteering for
the festival.
“I love seeing how happy
the little kids are,” she said.
In addition to the high
school and middle school
students, several district staff
volunteered for the festival.
It was also supported by a
few key community spon-
sors, including TLC Fibre
Federal Credit Union, Dam-
arkom Inc. and TD&M
Enterprises, Beach Books,
Costco and Safeway. The
Wildlife Center of the North
Coast and Seaside Public
Library had booths set up in
the gym where kids could
pick up a free coloring page
and book.
Photos by Katherine Lacaze
Seaside middle schoolers Lila Thornburg (right) and Isabella Page assist Katharine Parker and
her daughter Chloe at the photo booth at the Fall Fun Fest.
The Fall Fun Fest included the traditional cake walk — or
cupcake walk — with cupcakes donated by Safeway.
ABOVE: An entry from the
virtual pumpkin-decorating
contest. LEFT: Young children
showed up in costumes for the
Fall Fun Fest, which involved
a cupcake walk, carnival-style
games, pumpkin-decorating
and more.
Costumed kids at Fall Fun Fest.
Using the
recreation center
According to Ousley,
being able to host the event
in their own space — rather
than renting the Seaside Civic
and Convention Center like
last year — was benefi cial for
the organizers. Not only is the
new recreation center large
enough to host hundreds of
attendees, but they also were
able to start setting up days in
advance and they saved on
rental fees.
“From an event-planning
perspective, it was great for
me,” she added.
In light of the pandemic,
there was also space for
attendees to spread out. The
organizers originally antici-
pated having to do staggered
admittance, like last year,
to ensure there weren’t too
many people in the building
at one time, but the organic
fl ow throughout the after-
noon made it unnecessary.
“It kind of happened nat-
urally, just as far as people
showing up over the four
hours we had the event,”
Ousley said.
Although the festival itself
is over, the recreation district
is still conducting its virtual
pumpkin-decorating and cos-
tume contests. Local families
can submit entries to Ous-
ley, via email, through Fri-
day, Oct. 29. A small panel
of judges will review the
entries and winners will be
announced early next week.
Pumpkin drop: Pet parade begins at 10 a.m. Saturday
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UPCOMING
EVENTS
If it’s Halloween, it
must be Christmas. The
Seaside Chamber of
Commerce introduced a
full schedule of holiday
events, coming on the
heels of the Halloween
season with events
throughout November
and December.
Hailey Hoff man/The Astorian
Last year’s 1,328-pound pumpkin at the top of its arc.
project all on its own, so a
good educational moment
for your kids.”
The pumpkin drop is only
one of the Seaside Down-
town Development Associ-
ation’s signature Halloween
Happenin’s events.
Sign-in for the pet parade
begins at 9:30 a.m. at Sea-
side Slushies & Dogs, 550
Broadway. The parade
begins at 10.
“March your dog family
or pet or duck or goose or
goat, or chicken or horse —
we’ve had them all before
— feel free to dress that ani-
mal up and walk it to the
Turnaround,” Swenson said.
The Halloween Carnival,
with fun, games and pump-
kin carving at the Turn-
around, takes place from
noon to 3 p.m.
The giant pumpkin drop
will be viewed from the
Turnaround at 3 p.m.
Trunk or Treat follows as
decorated cars line up down-
town between Columbia and
the Turnaround to give out
candy to trick-or-treaters on
Saturday from 4 to 5 p.m.
On Sunday, viewers can
gather at Quatat Park at
11:30 a.m. for the Witches
Paddle at noon.
The Christmas tree
decoration is CEO Brian
Owen’s favorite, with
his opportunity to get
a lift in the city’s bucket
truck, the “beginning of a
festive season.”
The Parade of Lights,
sponsored by Pacifi c
Power, takes place the
day after Thanksgiv-
ing, on Friday, Nov. 26.
Crowds line up at 6 and
the parade starts at
about 7 p.m.
A holiday artisan fair
takes place at the Seaside
Civic and Convention
Center on Nov. 26 and
Nov. 27.
The tour of lights, spon-
sored by Grocery Outlet,
with driving guides to
homes and businesses
with holiday displays.
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E
RIL Y’
S
The event went viral on
television and social media,
Seaside Downtown Devel-
opment Association board
member Ruth Swenson said.
“Nothing like killing a giant
pumpkin out in the middle
of the parking lot to make
people want to watch. If you
ever want to get attention,
drop a big pumpkin.”
The pumpkin will drop
again this year, this time on
the beach, from the Turn-
around into a “very big pool
of water,” she said.
Crane operators Ben
Olson and Chuck Godwin,
both of Seaside, dropped last
year’s 1,328-pound pump-
kin from 40 feet. They will
be back to drop this year’s
pumpkin.
The pool will be pop-
ulated with plastic ducks
and beavers, Swenson said,
emblematic of the Oregon
college rivalry.
Contest participants are
asked to guess the distance
the animals will splash out
of the pool, with the closest
guess winning a $500 prize,
Swenson said.
“We’re going to have all
our beavers and ducks actu-
ally in the pool and then
when the pumpkin drops it
will hopefully push some of
them out of the water,” she
said. “It’s kind of a science
“With COVID, you have
to adapt a lot and use technol-
ogy to get things done,” Ous-
ley said.
Additionally, recreation
staff have decorated pump-
kins that are now on display
at the Sunset Pool. Commu-
nity members are invited to
stop by, view the dozen or so
pumpkins, and cast a vote for
their favorite one as part of
People’s Choice contest.
“That was a fun way to
include our staff and do a lit-
tle bonding,” Ousley said.
“We do things for the com-
munity and then we also try
to lift our staff ’s spirits as well
by doing these fun things.”
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