Lake Winola Parks & Trails throws first-ever Halloween Hike & Festival

Gabrielle Lang, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
·4 min read

Oct. 19—FACTORYVILLE — Discover tricks and treats at the first annual Halloween Hike and Festival at Peck Natural Area on Saturday, October 21, starting at 2:00 p.m. with fall fun all day and night.

This is the first festival hosted by Lake Winola Parks & Trails and they look forward to showing everyone all they've accomplished to beautify this community park.

The Halloween Hike & Festival at Peck Natural Area is basically two different festivals in one; a whole daytime carnival for everybody and a scary nighttime festival for adults. The event raises funds for new playground equipment and other park improvements.

During the day, take the kid-friendly Halloween Hike over to the festival area. Strut through the forest in your best costume and keep an eye out for hidden surprises and spooky decorations along your hike!

Then once you arrive at the Halloween Festival you'll find the children's carnival, food vendors, pumpkin painting, raffles, live music, face-painting, fire trucks, 4-H petting zoo, canned food drive, and much more!

Listen to live music from Peach (Lake Winola Solo Acoustic), Dishonest Fiddlers, and Lithia Valley Music Co. starting at 4:00 p.m.

Confident chefs can also participate in the chili cook-off and aspiring artists can enter pumpkin carving contests. And of course...there will be plenty of candy and other fall treats.

At 7:00 p.m. after the sun sets, the adults can get in their Halloween screams when the scary "Fright Night" hike begins. Part of the trail will be fully haunted with professional actors and adult-level scares for the rest of the evening.

Peck Natural Area in Factoryville

The Halloween Hike & Festival was the brainchild of Trevor Brown, Board Member of Lake Winola Parks & Trails and owner of Purple Pepper Farms.

"I wanted to incorporate a fundraiser with our hiking trail," said Brown. As owner of Purple Pepper Farms, he had a lot of pumpkins this season, so he was inspired to do something special for Halloween.

The park committee was dissolved a long time ago in Lake Winola, until four years ago the township had leftover funds to dedicate to the park and started looking for volunteers to oversee the project. That's when Trevor Brown, Paula Schloder, and Terri Ace-Lehnert stepped up to the plate.

"Where the trail is now is a place that I've loved since I was a kid," said Terri Ace-Lehnert, Board Member of Lake Winola Parks & Trails. "—But the trail was only half of what it is today."

In just those four years, Lake Winola Parks & Trails has revitalized Peck Natural Area. They've installed bridges throughout the trail, resurfaced the basketball courts, added picnic tables, and continued to improve the area for the community.

"A lot of the locals have been taking advantage of the trail now! It's a gem in our community and not everybody knows it's there," said Terri Ace-Lehnert.

Now, the Halloween Hike & Festival will give everyone a reason to explore this restored park and enjoy some quintessential autumn activities while they're at it. Funds from the event will also raise money for playground equipment and a pickleball court for the local kids.

Terri Ace-Lehnert says she hopes that Peck Natural Area can have more than just basketball, baseball, and the trail in the future. She wants to see the park and trail that's so dear to her heart continue to flourish and branch out.

"We've worked hard. It's a passion project," said Terri Ace-Lehnert. "We're really hoping the community comes out to see what we've been doing here."

Tickets are $5 in advance online and $8 at the event. Children under three years old are free. The event will take place rain or shine.

Attendees are encouraged to park at the Lake Winola Boat Launch and take the kid-friendly Halloween Hike trail up to the festival area for all the October delights you can imagine.

Lake Winola Parks & Trails hopes this event will become the blueprint for upcoming years and further events at Natural Peck Area. For more information, join the Lake Winola Parks and Trails group on Facebook.