Autumn is about juxtaposing carnival rides with hay rides and wandering corn mazes and cemeteries. It’s about small-town festivals and quirky activities that linger as briefly as orange and red leaves - so you’d better get started. Here are a dozen family-friendly activities guaranteed to jump start your Arkansas autumn, with history and harvests and haunts:
SOUTH
This year marks Smackover’s third Retro Halloween celebration, open to all, but geared for the 4-to-11 set. The event celebrates the town’s boom years, 1923-26, when its population mushroomed from 90 to 25,000 following the discovery of petroleum. These days, Smackover is back to its pre-boom size, but even so, last year’s Retro Halloween drew about 400 people. Come in costume, make a mask and rag doll, join the sack race and bob for apples. The event is 2-4 p.m. Oct. 26, outdoors at the Museum of Natural Resources, 3853 Smackover Highway (Arkansas 7). Admission is $3-$5. Wheelchair accessible. (870) 725-2877.
The 17th annual Lake Chicot Fall Festival offers quintessential small-town fun.
Along with craft vendors and carnival rides, the downtown event includes a pancake breakfast, painted pumpkin contest, antique tractor show and barbecue cook-off. Music, local ninjas and high school drama students will take the stage, a lucky pooch will be awarded a blue ribbon and a lucky lady will be crowned Miss Lake Chicot Fall Festival.
6-9 p.m. Oct. 25, 8 a.m.-8 p.m Oct. 26 at 111 Main St., Lake Village. Free. Wheelchair accessible. (870) 265-5997 or lakevillagechamber.org.
CENTRAL
Since 1995, Parkview Arts and Science Magnet High School and the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program have collaborated on Tales of the Crypt at Little Rock’s historic Mount Holly Cemetery. Theater students lead candlelit tours while portraying the notable 19th-century Arkansans buried there. 5:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesday at 1200 S. Broadway. Free. Not wheelchair accessible.
(501) 447-2362.
Augusta’s Peebles Farm offers a hayride through a cypress swamp, a 60-acre pumpkin patch (10 acres designated “you pick”) and a 20-acre steamboat-shaped corn maze.
Weekend nights the maze is open later, and there’s a bonfire for s’mores. Open through Oct. 31: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 9a.m.-10 p.m. Friday-Saturday, 1-8 p.m Sunday at 100 Woodruff County Road 249 at U.S. 64 (between Augusta and McCrory). Admission $8-$13. Usually manageable in a wheelchair (but not if the ground is wet). (870) 919-6162 or peeblesfarm.com.
Schafer’s Corn Maze is just that - 15 acres of elaborately chopped cornfield. There’s an easy maze and a challenging one, but otherwise, few frills. Once you’re in, you’re committed - no shortcuts, no outs. Through Oct. 31. Noon-10:30 p.m. Friday, 10 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Saturday, 1-8 p.m. Sunday at 863 Lollie Road, Mayflower. Weekday groups by reservation. Admission $5-$7. Usually manageable in a wheelchair. (501) 269-7903 or schaeferscornmaze.com.
Creepy Works’ Haunted House of Conway may be the most detailed and frightening haunt in the area. In an industrial warehouse, visitors are bombarded with loud, disconcerting noises and all means of panic-inducing visuals. Geared toward teens, but younger children can enter at parents’ discretion. Runs through Nov. 1, 7 p.m.-midnight at 150 Arkansas 286 E. Admission $7-$9. Check website for specific days. Not wheelchair accessible. (501) 472-2325 or creepyworks.com.
Meander through candlelit woods, where you may pause to chat with an animal trapper or listen to a soldier expound on her Civil War experience. (Oh, you didn’t realize there were female soldiers in the Civil War?) This will be Arkansas Post National Memorial’s 19th year to offer Ghosts of the Past, an hour-long walking tour through living history vignettes. It changes each year and drew 350 people in 2012. 6-8:30 p.m. Oct. 19 at 1741 Old Post Road, Gillett. Free, reservations recommended. Wheelchair accessible. (870) 548-2207.
Pioneer Village Fall Open House offers costumed guides, handmade crafts, old-fashioned toys, coonskin caps, music, Civil War re-enactors and spin ning demonstrations. Grab a snack from the Dutch-oven cookers or the chuck wagon and tour a re-created 19th-century community. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Nov. 2, 1-4 p.m. Nov. 3 at 1200 Higginson St., Searcy. Free, donations accepted. Wheelchair accessible. (501) 580-6633.
Throughout October, nothing is as it seems. This makes it a perfect time to visit Arkansas Frontier’s Living History Farm - an educational experience temporarily disguised as a pumpkin patch. There’s an American Indian village, a one-room schoolhouse and a nature trail through the enchanted forest, complete with spooky (but kid-friendly) characters. Through Oct. 31: 9 a.m.-2 p.m. weekdays by reservation, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturdays at 1625 Wesley Chapel Road, Quitman. Admission $8. Wheelchair accessible. (Pumpkin patch ends Oct. 30.) (501) 589-3122 or arkansasfrontier.com.
NORTHEAST
Pumpkin Hollow Farms seems to have it all - two corn mazes (to up the ante, go late and take a flashlight),whimsical farm fun (petting zoo, pony rides, hay rides) and by night, a trio of haunts that draws visitors from all over the state. Horror in the Hollow includes Bubba’s Butcher Barn, Frightmare Farmhouse and the Forest of Fright. According to the website, “You may be exposed to intense scenes, loud noises, fog machines, air blasts, strobe lights and darkness.” In other words, if you’re very young or young at heart and/or likely to have a baby, heart attack or seizure, stay away. At 671 County Road 336, Piggott. (870) 598-3568.
Pumpkin Hollow: Open through Oct. 31: 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Monday-Saturday, 1-6 p.m. Sunday. Admission $10-$15. pumpkinhollow.com.
Corn Maze: Same hours as hollow above, but open until 9:30 on Friday and Saturday nights and on Oct. 31. Admission $10.
Horror in the Hollow: Every Friday and Saturday in October plus Oct. 31, 7-10 p.m. Admission $15-$25. horrorinthehollow.com.
Wheelchair accessible: all daytime activities and Frightmare Farmhouse.
Oktoberfest is for the dogs (literally) in Paragould.There’s a Running of the Wieners (eh, dachshunds), a dog parade (last year, a few traded paws for wheels) and plenty of bratwurst. Catch a band or peruse the German car show and, if you’re of age, enjoy a frosty brew from the biergarten. (Save those leftover brats. You’ll need them in a few weeks to fend off the undead. We hear they flock to the downtown Zombie Walk.) 100 S. Pruett St., Paragould. Wheelchair accessible.
Oktoberfest: 9 a.m.-6 p.m.Oct. 12. Admission $5 kids, no charge for adults. (870) 240-0544. Facebook.com/OktoberfestParagould.
Zombie Walk: 5:30 p.m. Oct. 26. Admission $2-$5. zombiewalkparagould.com.
NORTHWEST
As berries make way for apples, Lincoln makes way for the Arkansas Apple Fest. Plan for hillbilly music, apple-themed concessions, craft vendors, an apple core toss-off, a parade and a talent show. Oct. 4-6 in Lincoln on U.S. 62, 20 miles west of Fayetteville. Begins at 9 a.m., check website for complete schedule. Free. Wheelchair accessible. (479) 824-3378 or Arkansasapplefestival.org.
Karver’s Hollow , the fifth effort by Ozark Haunts, winds around old farm grounds populated by the remnants of a sadistic, backwoods family. (Make your acquaintance ahead of time via the album on ozarkhaunts.com.) The owner rates the tour “PG-13,” and advises guests to check the Facebook page for weather-related cancellations. 8 p.m.-midnight Fridays and Saturdays from Friday to Nov. 2 and Oct. 31, at 300 E. Main St., Farmington. Admission $12. Not wheelchair accessible. Contact through Facebook.com/OzarkHaunts.
Family, Pages 34 on 10/02/2013