Three hours of family fun are promised at the Northbrook Park District’s free Autumnfest, held from 2 to 5 p.m. Oct. 8 at Meadowhill Park.
“This year, we’ve added a pony ride and a children’s train ride,” said Recreation Division Manager Katie Kotloski, who is managing the event. “We’re excited to bring those new elements to change up the attractions a little bit.”
There will also be a pumpkin patch where each child can select a pumpkin to either decorate at the event or take home. There will be a contest for the decorated pumpkins.
Another event will be pumpkin chuckin’.
“We put a giant slingshot out on our Velodrome in the grassy area in the center and kids can put a gourd or a pumpkin on it to see how far they can slingshot the pumpkin into the field,” Kotloski said.
There will also be crafts and inflatable games.
At 2:15 p.m., the Northbrook Theatre Youth Company will perform.
“They’ll be performing a few selections from the upcoming ‘Newsies Jr.’ production that goes up at the end of October,” said Performing Arts Supervisor Drew Kambach. “They’ll probably sing two or three songs and maybe dance a little.”
Around 30-40 cast members, ages 8-14, will participate at Autumnfest. They will be from each of the show’s three casts. Everyone who wants to be part of the theater company’s productions can participate. “But they do go through an audition process,” Kambach noted, to see what roles are most appropriate for them.
“Newsies Jr.” will be performed at 7 p.m. Oct. 25-27, and 10 a.m., 1 p.m., and 3:30 p.m. Oct. 29.
Children’s entertainer Nanny Nikki will perform at Northbrook Autumnfest at 3 p.m. .
Nanny Nikki’s career started when she picked up a ukulele and began strumming. “I started holding these playdates in our house for our friends and their kids,” she said. “We’d do music time.”
That was in 2019, when her daughter was three years old. It soon turned into a career.
“I incorporated in December of 2019,” Nanny Nikki related. “I had three months of normalcy and then it was like ‘now what?'”
Fortunately, Nanny Nikki, who worked as a professional nanny for nearly 15 years, is back in children’s entertainment now, bringing music and joy to preschoolers and their families.
Nanny Nikki said that her performance at Northbrook Autumnfest will be “highly interactive and fun. We do not sit — we dance, we are silly, and have a good old time. I do some singalong songs but mostly classic children’s music and some originals.”
She noted that she always opens with the kids singing a song about what they are wearing that day. “I adapt the song to their name and what they’re wearing, and they get to show off their dance moves,” Nanny Nikki said.
She said that the best thing about doing what she does for a living is “the delight on the faces of the kids when they just let loose and feel joy.”
There will be free s’mores and apple cider. In addition, Dairy Queen will be on-site selling treats. That’s the only thing that costs money at the event.
Kotloski said that the Northbrook Park District hosts this free event every year because, “It brings the community together. It gets people outside and enjoying the parks and it gives them something to do with their kids. And it creates those memories.”
Northbrook Autumnfest
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When: 2-5 p.m. Oct. 8
Where: Meadowhill Park, 1479 Maple Ave., Northbrook
Tickets: Free
Information: 847-291-2993; nbparks.org/have-a-gourd-time-at-northbrook-autumnfest-on-october-8/
Myrna Petlicki is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.