Batavia will get an early start on Halloween with its BatFest event beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 25, in the city’s downtown.
The four-hour Halloween-themed event that is billed as offering “something for everyone” will include a community parade, music, games, face painting, holiday-inspired food and drink and a chance for youngsters to get a head start on trick-or-treating, event organizers said.
The schedule this year also includes an opportunity to visit with reptiles throughout the day at one location as well as real bats at another. There will also be a dance party, a pumpkin roll sponsored by a local Scout troop and a costume contest.
BatFest is organized by the Batavia MainStreet group.
“We started this in 2000 so it’s 25 years this year. It actually was one of the first events that was created by MainStreet when I came to town,” Batavia MainStreet Executive Director Beth Walker said. “Over the years, the purpose of this has been to bring people downtown and create community. It’s another way for kids to get out and show their costumes – parents know kids want more than one opportunity to get out and do trick-or-treating, and we also offer different experiences in the downtown district.”
Walker highlighted a reptile show that will be offered at Congregational Church of Batavia at 21 S. Batavia Ave. as well as chance to see some bats at Sturdy Shelter Brewing at 10 Shumay Ave. during the festival.
“We have costume contests and prizes and the different businesses also offering opportunities including face painting, a pottery demonstration and a dance party,” she said.
BatFest also coincides with the end of the Batavia Outdoor Farmers Market which will close for the season on the same day.
“This is the last one outdoors and so we hope people will visit the market before it moves indoors,” she said.
BatFest, as always, kicks off with a community parade with line-up scheduled to start at 9:30 a.m. before the 10 a.m. start.
“We start at the Peg Bond Center at the corner of Island and Houston and we have an old-fashioned fire truck that leads the parade and then the kids get to do a quick loop that goes from Island and turns up west on Wilson and then right onto Water Street,” Walker said. “It’s just a little U-shaped loop that still gives kids a chance to show off their costumes once again.”
Downtown trick-or-treating runs from 10 a.m. until noon during the event.
Walker estimates the event has drawn somewhere around 5,000 people each of the past few years, adding that “it continues to be very successful.”
“People have really come out. A guy that does a local podcast here asks people every year what their favorite event is and BatFest comes up every year as one of their most liked in Batavia,” she said. “It’s just one of those events that people really like. Businesses have really stepped up to offer even more.”
For more information on BatFest, go to https://downtownbatavia.com/event/batfest/
David Sharos is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
