The Conifer Fall Festival is everything a small-town festival should be.
Ingenuity had a hand in making the festival on the field at U.S. 285 and Settlers Drive so successful as children participated in pumpkin chuckin’, pumpkin bowling and a new addition this year, pumpkin golf. For adults, there were artisan booths, food trucks, beer tents, a pumpkin patch and music.
Conifer Kiwanis puts on the Fall Festival, with proceeds going to area nonprofits.
It takes a village to put on such an event, and Kristy Tolan, president of Blue Spruce Kiwanis in Evergreen, spent several hours volunteering, noting that members of several neighboring Kiwanis clubs volunteered to help Conifer Kiwanis with the Fall Festival.
Avery and Zoey Raml enjoyed pumpkin bowling, while mom Shirley said she brought the girls to the festival because it was another chance to spend a day outside before the weather got cold.
Frank Prokop, who lives in The Homestead, watched his children, Kaia and Leo, try pumpkin golf. Frank said the family moved to Conifer two years ago, and they loved living here and festivals such as this.
Annie Cooley and Heather Aberg, the executive director and former executive director of Resilience1220, respectively, took turns setting up the 20 pins for pumpkin bowling. The bowling “lane” was set up on a hill, so children could roll small pumpkins down the hill toward the pins.
Noah Twitchell, 9, even bowled a strike, while other children took several tries to knock down the pins.
“This is the last festival of the year,” Kris Twitchell, Noah’s mom, said. “We like going to local events.”