Fall Family Fun fest draws thousands to Lucerne Park in Warsaw

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW — A couple of thousand people made their way to Lucerne Park Friday evening for the Warsaw Parks and Recreation Department’s annual Fall Family Fun.

There were inflatables and games, a photo booth, crafts, a petting farm, Warsaw Missionary Church serving free meals, Via Credit Union provided s’mores, and there were the always-popular hay rides, according to Recreation Director Stephanie Schaefer.

Dustin Wiggs did a chainsaw wood-carving demonstration. In the two-hour period, he carved a gnome out of an oak log. Schaefer said the wood carving was a new addition this year to the event and it was pretty cool.

Becky Stevens, Via Credit Union, said she didn’t know how many years they’ve provided the s’mores for the event, but “it’s always a lot of fun. We get out here and see the community and see the kids enjoy this.”

Animal-Grams provided pony rides; the petting zoo included a calf, rabbits, guinea pigs, a chicken and sheep. They also had pig races and a pig kissing booth.

Shelhart Acre Farms had two alpacas for people to see and pet.

On average, Fall Family Fun draws anywhere from 1,500 to 2,500 people, Schaefer said, and they’ve had 3,000 before. By the end of the evening, she estimated they had a couple thousand.

“The weather is great today,” Schaefer said. “It’s a perfect evening for this.”
Fall Family Fun was the Park and Recreation Department’s last fall event that was free to the community, but they’ll have other things that will be going on but not at Lucerne, she said.

Schaefer said this year has been really busy for the department.

“We’ve had all of our concerts, so we were able to have all nine of our summer concerts, and then our two big ones — the rock and the country concerts, so that was great even with the weather we had. So, I’m very thankful for that,” she said.

Schaefer gave a shoutout to all of this year’s sponsors of the Fall Family Fun.

Kosciusko Community Senior Services provided shuttle bus rides throughout the evening between the overflow parking areas and the event. Hoosier Lakes Radio Club helped direct traffic and guide guests to available parking.

Community sponsors that helped make it a free event included Warsaw Missionary Church, Via Credit Union, State Farm agent Mariano Oliveri, LifeWise Academy and Patten Monument of Indiana, according to the department’s Facebook page.

 

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