Cramerton offering fall festival, movie screening

With fall in the air and Halloween around the corner, things are getting spooky in Cramerton.

The staff at Cramerton Parks and Recreation are giving local kids a safe way to have fun and get a little candy with the annual Fall Festival.

Festivities including cake walks, contests, games and prizes will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 20 at the Centennial Center.

Carnival games will be set up with prizes. Unlimited game play wristbands will be available for purchase for $5 in the gazebo.

Businesses, nonprofits and churches will have booths set up and decorated for Halloween, with prizes going to the best-decorated booths.

“It’s a great mix of everyone that’s involved in the community,” said Eric Smallwood, Parks and Recreation director.

They’ll have information available, as well as candy to give out, so kids should come with their trick-or-treat pails.

This will be the third year the festival and trick-or-treating have been combined.

“What we do now is have a fall festival, it has all the carnival games and that stuff, but one of things I wanted to do was add in trick-or-treating to give kids a safe place to trick-or-treat,” said Smallwood.

A costume contest will be held for four age groups, newborns to 2-year-olds, ages 3 to 5, 6 to 8, and 9 to 12. The contests take place every 10 minutes from 5:20 to 5:50 p.m.

“Kids love being able to strut their costume in front of the crowd, and parents love seeing their kids up there,” said Smallwood.

Prizes will be awarded, but the prizes themselves will remain a secret until the winners are announced.

A pumpkin carving contest will also take place, with the jack-o’-lanterns on display throughout the festival. Carved pumpkins should be dropped off at the amphitheatre by 3 p.m. day-of, where they’ll remain on display until the end of the event, when the winner will be announced. Winner takes home $25.

After the festival ends at 6, visitors are encouraged to go explore businesses downtown or grab a bite to eat, then come back to the Centennial Center for a free screening of Disney/Pixar’s “Coco.” The movie will be shown between 6:45 and 7 p.m.

Organizers had intended to show “Coco” earlier in the year, but that showing was rained out. Instead, they moved to hold it after the fall festival.

“The movie falls in perfect with the theme of this event,” said Smallwood.

For more information, visit the Cramerton Fall Festival Facebook event page or call the Cramerton Parks and Recreation Department at 704-824-4231.

Reach reporter Brandy Beard at bbeard@gastongazette.com