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S'mores, Campfires And Pumpkins All Part Of Fest At Chase Park This Weekend

By Josh McGhee | October 10, 2017 6:02am
 Chicago Campfire Festival will be held this weekend.
Chicago Campfire Festival will be held this weekend.
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UPTOWN — Chase Park is ready to celebrate Halloween with the neighborhood all month long.

After opening its summer camp-themed haunted house last weekend, the park at 4701 N. Ashland Ave. will host its second annual Chicago Campfire Festival Saturday.

"The Campfire fest is our big kickoff event for our Halloween events [and] it kicks off the opening of the pumpkin patch," Park Supervisor Katie Peon said. "We set up campfires all through out the park on the baseball diamonds. We supply the s'mores ingredients and you supply the kids and the families. Everyone makes s’mores and just kinda hangs out in the park. It’s a really chill nice day."

From 2-10 p.m. Saturday, the event will include live music from Elton John/Billy Joel cover band Piano Man, ghost stories, a kid's performance, face painting, crafts, kids games, a Halloween movie in the park and the opening of the Great Pumpkin Patch.

The Great Pumpkin Patch includes a corn maze, hay mountain, corn pit, hay slide, hot cocoa, carving kits, pumpkin gourds, corn stalks, hay bales, a bouncy house, caramel apples, apple cider and apple doughnuts, according to its website.

For a full schedule for the Great Pumpkin Patch click here.

"Last year, the Cubs were in the World Series so we showed the Cubs game instead of 'Hocus Pocus,'" said Poen, adding the Disney Halloween favorite will be screened at dusk Saturday.

The Chase Park Advisory Council will also be selling bratwursts, hot dogs, fruit salads, chips and "Ms. Kim's famous chili," which has become a mainstay from an advisory council member and "parent who has been here forever," she said.

Proceeds from all events are to raise money to renovate the Chase Park park district building. The advisory council is hoping to raise about $10,000 from the events this month.

"Right now, we’re hoping to renovate our lobby. If you walk through there you see the floor is in really bad shape," she said.

Beyond the floor renovations, the park district is hoping to raise money to pay for new turf fields at the park, she said.

Tickets to the festival are $11 online and $13 at the door. For another $5, attendees can also attend Camp Scare Away, which will overrun the park with "bloodthirsty killers, demonic ghouls, and grotesque fiends," according to its website.

The summer camp-themed haunted house features clowns and rooms modeled after classic horror films "Friday the 13th" and "The Ring." Campers can also expect a maze weaving through park district locker rooms featuring a creepy infirmary, a claustrophobia hall and some hidden scares.

The haunted house will be open from 7-11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays throughout October. It will also be open from 7-9 p.m. Sundays, according to the website.

Photos from last year's Chicago Campfire Festival:

[Courtesy of Chase Park]