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2nd Sunday in Oct. is Fall Festival Time in Florissant
Sponsors, vendors and fairgoers are hoping for better weather this year for the Florissant Fall Festival than they had in 2014. Cool temperatures and rain didn’t keep everyone away, but blue skies and warm temperatures would be welcome Sunday, Oct. 11 along rue St. Francois.
Eleven blocks of the street will again be closed to traffic to accommodate the annual Florissant Old Town Fall Festival. The event is in its 18th year and continues to grow and draw thousands of visitors to Florissant Old Town.
Sponsors include Florissant Old Town Partners, the City of Florissant, the Missouri Arts Council and the Regional Arts Commission. The festival is held each year on the 2nd Sunday in October, with attendance in the past few years topping 35,000 visitors.
The Festival begins unofficially with a Food Truck Knight at Knights of Columbus Park Friday, Oct. 9 from 5 to 8 p.m. Along with delicious food, diners will be treated to music by Social Distraction. A canned food drive will benefit TEAM Food Pantry.
The 5K Race to the Shrine officially starts off the festivities at 4 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 10. The race begins and ends at St. Ferdinand Shrine. For more information and to register, runners should visit racetotheshrine.com.
On Sunday, Oct. 11, the festival will be open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition to the closure of rue St. Francois from Florissant Road to the St. Ferdinand Shrine, all side streets will be blocked off. The activities include over 150 booths, offering games, items for sale, food and beverages.
Old favorites like the Chili Cook-off, the wine garden, pumpkin decorating, and other entertainment will be held up and down the street. Entertainers include the Dixie Rhythm Kings, Cookie the Clown, Dan Sproat, Kraig Kalkbrenner, the Kincaid Karacter Puppets, Richard Renner – Stiltwalker/Juggler, Vince DeLaughder – Stiltwalker, Carol Brady our Story Teller, North County Big Band, Dennis Schilligo, The Buckhannon Brothers, 7 weeks after and the Metro Band.
The Fido Follies may be everyone’s favorite event. This year it will be located at the Government Center at 1055 rue St. Francois at the top of the street. The festival is a dog-friendly event, providing water bowls on every block for visitors’ pets (properly licensed and leashed of course). All are invited to enter their favorite pooch in the dog show. Among the categories in which winners will be named are smallest dog, best kisser, best costume, best trick and largest dog.
At the top of rue St. Francois on the City Hall lawn, Hazelwood Head Start is sponsoring a Children’s Hands-On art project area. Here kids can create masterpieces of art with the help of volunteer teachers.
The Police Department is partnering with MOCHIPS to offer free child identification kits. They will be set up in the Council Chambers near the Children’s Hands-On art at City Hall.
The Florissant Police Officers Welfare Association will hold their 4th annual Car and Bike Show at the Knights of Columbus Grounds, 25 West Washington Street. They will offer K-9 demonstrations, live music, and attendance prizes along with the show. Registration for the show is between 8 a.m. and noon, with awards given at 4 p.m. In addition to awards in 35 classes, there will be special awards. The first 150 entries will receive a t-shirt and dash plaque. All proceeds are earmarked for the Florissant Police K-9 Unit.
Near City Hall and the Bank of America, more than 60 artisans will show off their work at the Craft Fair. Hand-crafted gifts will be available for purchase and on display. Each year, more crafters participate, making it easy to get an early jump on holiday shopping.
St. Ferdinand Shrine will offer Shrine items including furniture, religious items and much more for sale.
Sunday afternoon at 1 and 3 p.m., the SSJ Band will perform in the band shell at the Lawyer’s Building, in the 100 block of rue St. Francois. These performances are sponsored by the Florissant Fine Arts Council, Missouri Arts Council, and Regional Arts Commission.
A shuttle will be provided free of charge on St. Catherine for those Festival patrons who have difficulty navigating the hilly rue St. Francois. The FLERT bus will be transporting festival patrons from block to block on St. Catherine, which is one street over from rue St. Francois. There will be signs directing you to the stops.
For more information or to join the activities, call the Old Town Partners office at 837-0033 or visit www.florissantoldtown.com and click on the Fall Festival link.
