Fall in West County is a special time, with the vineyards turning colors, cooler temperatures, shorter days, and fewer tourists competing for parking places out on the river, but there is still plenty to do in the little town of Forestville.
Starting Oct. 1, you will have a chance to vote on your favorite scarecrow designed and built by students at Forestville School and sponsored by our local businesses. You’ll find a dozen or more of them along the paved trail at the Downtown Forestville Oaks Park all month long. The contest winners will be announced at the newly invented “Boo Bash” on Saturday, Oct. 31, from noon to 3 pm at the Oaks Park, where kids can go trick-or-treating at the vendors’ booths. Costumes are encouraged. There will be lunch from La Fogata Taco Truck and Halloween music too.
One thing for sure, those scarecrows will enhance the upcoming 3rd Annual Pie in the Park event, a fundraiser for the Oaks Park itself, taking place Saturday, Oct. 17 from 2 pm to 5 pm. If you are feeling competitive, enter the Best Pie in Forestville Contest! Bring two pies: one for the judges and one to share with others. The winner will take home a framed certificate, a trophy and gift basket. Be sure to bring your contest pie between 2 pm and 2:15 pm, as judging starts at 2:30. Plan on time for parking as we expect to get a big crowd at this popular pie extravaganza. We’ll have a Pie Walk (like a cake walk) with local bakeries donating amazing pies for you to win. Our Pie Share is for those of us who are willing to bring pie, but don’t want to enter the contest. Bring a pie (or two) to share with others, bake or buy. Each pie you bring will earn you a ticket for a free slice of pie. Our volunteers will slice those pies six ways, then sell each slice for $5 as our way of making money for the park.
In addition, there will be a kids section with face painting, giant pumpkins, and games for the whole family. We’ll have beer and wine for the adults and perhaps spiked lemonade. The Forestville Planning Association, managers of this private park, are busy getting pretty cool raffle prizes for you to bid on. There will be live music too!
We hope all those who love this park will come. We hope those who use it, even if only occasionally, will come and help support this precious resource. All are welcome.
This Pie in the Park event is our way to celebrate what this downtown park means to our community. It’s our gathering space for important events such as the Holiday Tree Lighting and the Farmers Markets, school fun runs and bike-a-thons. It’s also a place to sit still under the oak trees and listen to nature while enjoying a cup of coffee from Sunshine Roasters or a pastry from Nightingale Bakery. It’s a favorite place to walk the dog, push a stroller, get outside and enjoy nature. It’s our connection to the West County Trail and our neighboring towns of Graton and Sebastopol. It’s West County at its best.