St. Regis hosts fall festival
Children of all ages dressed up for the festivities on Tiger Street on Saturday in St. Regis. (Amy Quinlivan/Mineral Independent)
Bryson Hurd dressed up as the dabbing clown. (Amy Quinlivan/Mineral Independent)
Kathy McClelland hands out candy to a fun variety of costume wearers during the trunk or treating at the Fall Festival in St. Regis. (Amy Quinlivan/Mineral Independent)
Young festival attendants bounced off the sugar in the blow up bounce house and big inflatable slide. (Amy Quinlivan/Mineral Independent)
Bonnie and Clyde, from Hidden Horse Outpost, were hitched up the wagon and provided nostalgic rides around St. Regis School during the Fall Festival. Rides were generously donation based thanks to Aaron and Stephanie Todd, along with help from Steven Gillette. (Amy Quinlivan/Mineral Independent)
Perhaps next year's festival should include a best costume contest? Senorita Cheesman with her pinata pooch Charlie would have certainly won the award this time. (Amy Quinlivan/Mineral Independent)
On the evening of Saturday October 29, Tiger Street in St. Regis was marvelously transformed into the first of its kind, Fall Festival. From 4:00 to 6:00 p.m. the road was closed to traffic, so that little ones dressed up as princesses, ninjas, witches, and skeletons could safely stroll along the street lined with carnival games and trunk or treating.
Sergeant Ryan Funke, and Deputy David Kunzelman with the Mineral County Sheriff’s Office helped block the roadway and handed out candy on one end of the street while the St. Regis Fire Department provided a barricade with their big red fire truck which allowed children to hop inside for a tour.
In the middle of Tiger Street on the courtyard by the St. Regis School’s High School entrance, a bounce house and blow-up slide kept kiddos entertained. Carnival games included fishing, darts, corn hole toss, and basketball. Donations were accepted for harvest treats like popcorn, hot cocoa, and caramel apples.
New Day Fellowship in St. Regis was a co-sponsor for the event, pastor Morris Hill felt like the festival a huge success.
He exclaimed, “I think as I kept track of folks coming and going, I figured there was probably close to 150-175 people that attended. I know we gave out about 60 caramel apples.”
The Black Diamond Guest Ranch from DeBorgia brought along pumpkins to sell, and Hidden Horse Outpost offered wagon rides on behalf of Jonah Lowry. All donations from the wagon rides went to the fundraiser, ALL FOR JONAH. Aaron Todd and Steven Gillette shuttled festival goers in an old-fashioned way around the St. Regis School in a red horse drawn wagon.
The Sophomore class sold doughnuts, and a 4H booth had raffle tickets for half a cow, as well as bingo squares to purchase for Horse Apple Bingo, another fundraising effort for Jonah Lowry during his cancer treatments.
As the festivities took place on Tiger Street, judges met at Scarecrow Row on Montana 135 and named first, second, and third place winners of the annual contest. Once the harvest games, carnival, and trunk or treating ended families were invited to the Community Center for a Harvest Dinner and Dance. Chicken and Dumplings were cooked by Buffy Cheesman, and the ingredients were generously provided by Stangs Food Center.
As President of the St. Regis Community Council stated, “It takes a village to provide fun family events like these.”
From the decorations, to safety measures, the food, the property, the time and efforts, countless volunteers stepped up to make this year’s St. Regis Harvest Festival a great accomplishment. And as the weary workers enjoyed their harvest dinner Saturday night, many were already brainstorming how to make the event bigger and better next fall.
