Families celebrate fall at ARToberFEST

Katie Smolen, The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.
·1 min read

Oct. 17—JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — Families were out Saturday celebrating Fall at the Community Arts Center of Cambria County's ARToberFEST family day festival.

The event featured arts and crafts, workshops, entertainment, pumpkin painting, carving and bowling, caricature drawings and photo opportunities with favorite costumed characters with a majority of the events being free.

The event ran from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., but according to Angela R. Godin, executive director of the arts center, just before 2 p.m. most of the activities had sold out despite the day's rainy weather.

"It's actually the first time that it started to taper off and die down a little bit after all day," Godin said. "We have had hundreds of people here. It has been amazing. At one point, we had to have five different people helping make scarecrows all at one time. The pumpkin stations of carving and painting have all been going great and actually getting ready to sell out of all of our activities. It's been an incredible day."

Dolly Warnick, of Roxbury, attended the event with her grandsons Giovanni, 6, and Xavier Chaney, 9, because of her love of the holiday.

"We cut a pumpkin out over there and now we're painting (pumpkins) and I guess we're going to go watch a play," she said of the event's activities. "I love Halloween so much. I just love it and I just love these activities."

Warnick said she planned to attend the lighting of the Discover Downtown Johnstown Partnership's Park Boneyard Halloween display in Central Park later Saturday evening.

"I'll be down there every night too, because I just love that," she said.