For a little more than a decade now, the community of Callaway has hosted a special event in the fall - removed from Halloween - for area children. This year’s Kids’ Fall Festival will be held on Saturday, Nov. 1.

The Kids’ Fall Festival was the brainchild of Mike and Erin Reiff, who started the event shortly after they moved to Callaway. The couple modeled it after a similar festival they were part of while living in Colorado, and for the next 10 years, the Reiffs organized the festival with the help of lots of community volunteers.

With their children no longer being of the age to participate in the festival, last year the Reiffs handed off the reins to Sara Hogg - who was gracious enough to take on the role of organizing.

“I was thanking them for putting this on and for doing this for our community, and they told me it was going to be their last year and they were looking for somebody new. It immediately just sat on my heart that I could do this and keep it going for the community,” said Sara. “So that’s when I told them I would take over. They helped me quite a bit last year, so this year is my first year of doing it on my own.”

Preparation for the festival begins with booking the community center, making fliers to get the word out, and rounding up volunteers to help with the games. “The American Legion Auxiliary ladies put on a little concession stand, so I have to coordinate with them, and get ahold of the Chamber to get advertisements going,” Sara continued. “I have to order prizes, new tablecloths if we need them, and find people to donate items for the cake walk and things like that.”

Most of the games that Sara uses were passed down from the Reiffs, and include things like bingo, ring toss, sack race, and cake walk, to name a few. “They are all things that kids from preschool through 6th grade will be able to engage with,” said Sara.

While some of the games provide prizes, most are just for fun. The Callaway Chamber of Commerce provided Chamber Bucks for the sack race last year, which Sara said the kids really liked, and they have agreed to do that again this year.

Sara wants to emphasize that the Kids’ Fall Festival is not limited to children who live in Callaway - it is for all area children. The first 50 kids at this year’s festival will get a free commemorative cup, which Sara said will also help them track attendance numbers.

The festival will be held from 3-5 p.m. on Nov. 1 at the Callaway Community Center, and all kids are invited to come and play some games and just have a fun time. There will be snacks provided by the American Legion Auxiliary. Cake walk donations and volunteers are still needed, and anyone interested in helping can reach out to Sara at 870-2070.

“I would love for this to be a huge thing that people look forward to every year. It’s not just for the community of Callaway,” Sara concluded. “It’s in Callaway, for kids, not just for Callaway kids.”