Enjoy fall family fun in Coshocton County
Get ready for fall and have some family fun at Schumaker Farms. Activities are held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (weather permitting) Saturdays and Sundays, Oct. 3-31. (Submitted)
McPeek’s Mighty Maze first opened in 2015 and will be opening for its sixth season on Saturday, Oct. 3. Hours will be noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays in October with their last day being Saturday, Oct. 31. (Submitted)
After a summer of watching events being canceled, it is nice to see there is plenty to do this fall in Coshocton County.
Scarecrows are popping up all over the county as part of Clary Gardens’ Scarecrow Town.
“Last year we opened it up to the city and had interest from outlining areas,” said Jandi Adams, executive director at Clary Gardens. “We had some in West Lafayette and did a special People’s Choice award just for them. Since we had so much interest, we thought we would open it up to the whole county this year. With COVID and a lot of events being canceled, we thought this would be a cool thing that everyone could do. It’s fun for the whole family and people of all ages. You can still see the scarecrows too, even if you just want to go online and look at them.”
Businesses, organizations, groups and residents of Coshocton County are encouraged to put up a scarecrow at their location or at Clary Gardens. There is no limit to the number of scarecrows you can have in your scene. However, if they are in more than one location, they must be registered separately. To register your scarecrow and pay registration fees, visit www.scarecrowtown.com. A map of all the officially registered scarecrows will be posted on the website. Participants should be reminded scarecrow entries need to remain through Saturday, Oct. 31.
“The teddy bear hunt really took off earlier this year, and hopefully this will too,” Adams said. “I know my kids have been looking everywhere in town for them. We will be putting out signs so people know the scarecrows are part of the contest, and then you can go to the website and vote.”
Scarecrows can be seen throughout Coshocton County this year. Millfork Valley 4-H club participated in the scarecrow trail sponsored by Clary Gardens. Advisors Elaine Ashcraft, Nancy Wells, Jennifer Gress and Cloverbud Makayla Gress worked to place the scarecrow named 4-H Grows on state Route 541 by County Road 58. (Submitted)
Scarecrows entered in the contest can win in the following categories: traditional, creepy, pop culture and People’s Choice. Winners will be announced at a virtual Scarecrow Town awards ceremony. Details on the awards ceremony will be forthcoming. Voting started on Oct. 1, and you can vote as many times as you want on separate devices.
The event is a fundraiser for Clary Gardens and helps with the children’s garden. Email info@clarygardens.org or visit www.scarecrowtown.com for more information.
“We are really excited,” Adams said. “We have a lot of businesses that haven’t participated in previous years and a lot more residents, even outside of the city. Right now we are getting at least five registrations a day.”
If you need some pumpkins to add to your scarecrow scene or decorate your house with, come out to Schumaker Farms for a ride to the pumpkin patch and family fun. Activities are held from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. (weather permitting) Saturdays and Sundays, Oct. 3-31.
Pick your own pumpkins for 35 cents per pound and enjoy a hayride to the patch and activities for $5 per person. Kids age 2 and under are free. There will be corn and straw mazes, a huge slide, animals to visit, games, food, mums, ready-picked pumpkins, gourds, corn shocks, straw and autumn decorations for sale. COVID-19 protocols will be followed.
“We are encouraging people to bring face masks and have signs up reminding them to keep a safe distance,” Wendy Schumaker said. “We also won’t be putting as many people on the wagon at a time. We will put families together and then space them out some. We will be sanitizing and trying to keep everything safe.”
For more information call 740-622-8915 or email wss@columbus.rr.com. Schumaker Farms is located at 52441 County Road 16 in West Lafayette.
“It’s nice to be able to provide this for people to have something to do as a family,” Schumaker said. “We’ve had people come and remember being here as a kid. We are happy to provide something fun to do.”
In addition to Schumaker Farms, you can enjoy family fall fun at McPeek’s Mighty Maze at the Coshocton KOA.
“Our corn maze and fun park cover over 7 acres of farmland and give an abundance of space for social distancing,” said Ryan McPeek, owner of Coshocton KOA. “We have limited the numbers on all of our events this year and spread them out over longer periods of time to keep lines down and allow guests to feel safe while visiting our property.”
Additional precautions are being taken at McPeek’s Mighty Maze such as spacing out lines, utilizing Plexiglas barriers and increasing the disinfecting schedule for high-touch surfaces.
While McPeek’s Mighty Maze has continually added new recreation items to their park, they are keeping several attractions closed this year to help prevent the spread of COVID-19. Their corn box and tunnel playground will remain closed with no effective way to disinfect these surfaces. They will continue to offer wagon rides, barrel train rides, culvert pipe rollers and the duck race. The giant corn maze and kids’ corn maze will be open and offer games. The maze theme this year is Road Trippin’ USA. When guests wander through the passages, they will learn about national parks and animals that live in them.
McPeek’s Mighty Maze will open its hot-food trailer each weekend with Filipino specialties like lumpia (Filipino egg rolls) and chicken fried rice, as well as fries, hot dogs and chicken wings. They also will have their sweet treats trailer serving hand-dipped Velvet ice cream, hot drinks and, new for 2020, freshly made mini doughnuts. Like always, they have pumpkins available too.
McPeek’s Mighty Maze first opened in 2015 and will be opening for its sixth season on Saturday, Oct. 3. Hours will be noon to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays in October with their last day being Saturday, Oct. 31. Several special events also will be held at the maze including a family flashlight night and Wine Your Way Out, a wine-tasting in the corn maze. More information and tickets can be found at www.mcpeeksmightymaze.com.
Category: Arts & Entertainment
