Ashley Muhr of Elburn said that every year, she and her family love coming to BatFest in Batavia to get the Halloween season started.
“We like all the family activities they have and the trick-or-treating and doing the parade, and rolling a pumpkin is a big deal,” she said as she and her husband Jason and daughter Violet, 3, attended the event on Saturday. “We like to come and celebrate. This totally extends the holiday and gets everyone ready for the official trick-or-treating.”
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Families got a head start on the Halloween season Saturday at the Batavia MainStreet group’s BatFest, a four-hour holiday extravaganza in downtown Batavia.
The event began at 10 a.m. with a community costume parade that kicked off at Houston Street and Island Avenue.
Assistant director for the MainStreet group Kristen Desler said the event offers “the first opportunity for kids to get their costumes on and practice trick-or-treating, if you will, around town. I think that’s the excitement on their end. Also, I think our businesses are always excited to welcome so many visitors to Batavia for BatFest and see some new faces and make those connections.”
Desler said the event is not only for children, noting that “it is a great way to experience the community in a different way.”
John Lupei of Batavia was pushing his son Jackson, 2, in a stroller at the event Saturday and said he and his family try to come every year to BatFest.
“It’s a tradition,” he said. “Over the years, it’s fun to take the kids and have them do a little trick-or-treating and just enjoy a fun, festive atmosphere. It brings the whole community together and kind of extends the Halloween season.”
The pumpkin roll was one of the big events as kids and their parents stood at the top of Houston Street and Batavia Avenue and took turns rolling small basketball-sized pumpkins down the street.
Janelle Szweistis of Aurora said her son’s Boy Scout Troop 6 from Batavia was organizing the pumpkin roll.
“This is a service project and the winner splits the pot and one share goes to the food pantry,” Szweistis explained. “There’s no skill set with this. It’s kind of luck. If the pumpkin hits off the curb and kind of ricochets it kind of picks up momentum and rolls some more.”
Amy and Steve Allen of Batavia and their entire family were in costume and planned to roll a few pumpkins at BatFest.
“This is our pre-Halloween costume reveal,” Amy Allen said. “We generally come to this every year.”
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.