ROBERT PIERCE
• Leader & Times
Fall is in the air, and in the town of Kismet in October, signs of the season will be seen throughout the community.
Starting Tuesday, Oct. 15, Kismet Public Library and the KPL Foundation will host a benefit dinner.
“They’re serving chili and chicken noodle soup, and any donations will benefit the Kismet library,” KPL Director Suzan Nelson said. “Dine-in and carry out meals are available. That dinner is from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the Kismet Pavilion.”
Sunday, Oct. 20, from 3 to 5 p.m., Kismet will play host to its second annual Fall Family Fun Fest, and Nelson said additional activities will be part of the fun this year.
“New this year is face painting, and we also have pumpkins for the kids to decorate,” she said. “We have some vendors coming and setting up crafts and selling crafts and food. We have the old fashioned horse drawn wagon ride that was popular last year.”
October draws to a close with Halloween, and in Kismet, the day will bring the popular Halloween Spook Parade hosted by KPL, the Kismet Lions Club and other community volunteers.
“The parade starts at 5:30,” Nelson said. “If you want to enter the costume contest, be here at 5:15. We have trunk or treaters coming. If you’d like to be a trunk or treater, we set you up here on Main Street. You can also be in the Pavilion if you don’t want to go out of your trunk. After the parade, there will be a hot dog feed for the kids.”
Also starting in October, KPL will host a quarterly book club, which Nelson is kept causal and simple for those who like to read books or listen to audio books.
“This quarter, we are reading about things tied to Kansas,” she said. “If you’d like to know more about that, come here and sign up at the library. We will meet with authors, have fun discussions and do activities occassionally.”
Nelson said it is great to have fun things for everyone to do during the season.
“We’re really excited, and we have gotten great response from the community,” she said. “They like to have activities, especially for the kids, for things to do in a small town.”
Nelson said something community members like about the Spook Parade is seeing the variety of costumes worn by both children and adults.
“It’s fun to see,” she said. “They do the parade, and it’s going to be fun this year because after the parade, all the trunk or treaters get to hand out candy and visit other houses for the candy that we have and the hot dog feed.”
Kismet has long been the home of the annual Little World’s Fair on Labor Day weekend, and with events now in place during October, Nelson said the town has much for families to do. However, another activity is coming up in November when K-State Research and Extension’s Wild West District will host a cookie class at the library, and in December, KPL will host its popular gingerbread house contest, after which Nelson said there will be a holiday break before activities start again in 2025.
“We get into Christmas, and everybody’s so busy,” she said. “We’ll start back up in February with some other activities.”
Nelson said the community is quite appreciative of having things to do for both kids and families.
“That’s what we’re all about as the library,” she said. “We need to be there for the community and do things the community needs.”
No registration is needed for either the Fall Family Fun Fest or the Spook Parade, but Nelson did say pumpkins are limited for the Fun Fest.
“We’ve got some nice pumpkins the kids can decorate,” she said. “If you’re wanting to get a pumpkin, show up early. At the Spook Parade, just show up, and we’ll get you set up in the parade.”
For more information about any of these events, call KPL at 620563-7357. Nelson said she is quite excited about what is coming up in Kismet.
“It’s very exciting that we can continue on in improving community events, and with our library just being built, this is in addition to what we can do,” she said.
