The annual Farm-R-Treat connected with the last outdoor Fairfield Farmers Market of the season cannot happen at the Community Arts Center this year, so it’s moving to the Fairfield Greens North Trace Golf Course. It will be named the Halloween Walk at which families “book a tee time” in order to walk the nine-hole course. Registration for the Oct. 15 event is filled — and there is a waiting list — but Parks Director Tiphanie Howard said officials are looking at opening a yet-to-be-set second date.
“We designed it pretty much like a golf outing,” said Howard.
Parades are still prohibited by the Ohio Department of Health, so the second annual Parade of Lights will be a “reverse parade,” similar to what replaced the city’s Memorial Day parade at the end of May, Howard said. The parade entrants will be stationary at a yet-to-be-determined location, and parade viewers will drive past them. Details for that December event are still being worked out, she said.
“Any way that we can, we are going to adapt to create opportunities that improve the quality of life for our residents and visitors,” said Assistant City Manager Dan Wendt.
He said city officials hope the community comes out with as much enthusiasm as it did last year.
”Hopefully, it will bring the community together and give us something good to look forward to and celebrate," Wendt said.
Thousands of people visit the city’s 25 active parks every year, and they are places where people can be outside and still socially distance. Gilbert Farms serves most of the eastern side of Fairfield and will see a half-mile loop trail installed around the park connecting the neighborhoods off Stonehill and Devonian drives. The park will also have a new playground installed.
“We have a lot of parks that even with the pandemic you can go there and still be outside, do things and socially distance," Fairfield Mayor Steve Miller. “It’s nice to have those amenities, and I think our parks department’s done an outstanding job in recognizing that.”
Howard said it’s difficult to be in a business that creates social gatherings during a pandemic when social distancing is promoted.
“Until the pandemic is over we really can’t go full throttle until that gets lifted,” she said. "Until then, we’ll keep finding creative ways to serve the community.”
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