Palatine Park District's Fall Festival Returns Oct. 2

On Saturday, Oct. 2, Palatine Park District celebrates autumn as it holds its 13th annual Fall Festival at Palatine Stables. The event runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and hosts a variety of horse friendly activities for families and children.

Stable manager and trainer Toni Bruns has worked on the festival since its inception. At that time, Palatine Park District's goal was to improve the exposure of the stables to the community. Park District members found a fall atmosphere would be ideal for families to get their children involved in horse attractions. Palatine residents have been returning to the Fall Festival ever since.

"It's a really nice community event where people can spend a fun day taking advantage of stable activities, without having to be involved in stable training, or a Hunter/Jumper discipline," Bruns said.

The Fall Festival's allure is generated from its wide array of activities, including pony rides, a petting zoo, "Make & Take" crafts, horse riding demonstrations, wagon rides, both decorated and sold pumpkins, concessions for a picnic environment and more.

The Park District holds the event as a way for families to have fun and learn more about horses and Palatine's stable facility. Bruns said that residents appreciate that the festival isn't a "money making event."

Admission to the Fall Festival is free, as are select activities such as the petting zoo and horse demonstrations. Tickets are sold to cover costs of pony rides and crafts for children like decorating place mats, door hangers and pumpkins. A nice festival quality for parents and children is that kids are able to take their crafts home.

Over the past weeks, Bruns and Fall Festival co-chair Jill Kernan of the Palatine Park District Recreation Department have been busy planning the festival, which requires coordinating qualified volunteer-driven functions such as ticket sales and leading pony rides, prepping the animals and organizing craft materials. 

Despite the work involved, Bruns said that running the Fall Festival for she and Kernan is "second nature" after so many years.

For more information on Palatine Park District's Fall Festival, visit http://palatineparks.org/ or phone Palatine Stables at 847.359.0009. Palatine Stables is located at 1510 N. Northwest Hwy.