Fall Back Into Milton begins planning
After organizing the first Fall Back Into Milton event within a few weeks last year, Milton business owners, town officials and community leaders are starting early to plan this year’s event.
The second Fall Back Into Milton will be held Saturday, Oct. 17., featuring family-oriented fun, based around Milton’s downtown businesses. A centerpiece of the event will be “Trinket or Treat,” where participants get a map of participating businesses and will receive a trinket or a treat at each one when the map is stamped.
Events will also be held at Milton library, Ogre’s Grove, the Lydia Cannon Museum and at Milton Memorial Park. The highlight will be a costume contest held in the park.
Festival co-founder Mary Knight said this year, planners hope to attract 500 people. The 2019 event drew 300, which Knight viewed as extremely positive given the event was a hasty replacement for Milton Theatre’s Zombie Fest, originally held in Milton but moved to Dewey Beach last year.
Knight said the third Saturday in October is an ideal date because it would not interfere with other fall events such as Apple Scrapple and Sea Witch. Knight said this year, the event will run from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., which will allow people to go to other events that may be held that day.
Knight said this year will have a buy-in for participating businesses in order to procure media advertising and promotions. She said organizers are also looking for sponsors to offset the costs of putting on the event.
This year’s Fall Back Into Milton plans make larger use of Milton Memorial Park. Knight said one thought is for a pig roast in the park, put on by Mike Clampett of Po’Boys Creole and Fresh Catch. Knight said she wanted to see more food offerings as opposed to food trucks, which would enable more restaurants to participate.
At the Jan. 13 organizational meeting, Knight sought other potential ideas for the festival. These included a 50/50 raffle, a selfie station, a martial arts demonstration and a dog costume contest. The event will also include activities for teens, because much of last year’s festival was geared toward smaller children.
Organizers plan to conduct additional meetings with the next one at 6 p.m., Monday, March 23, at Milton library. Follow www.facebook.com/FallBackIntoMilton for more information.
Mayor Ted Kanakos attended the first meeting and was excited for what the event could become.
“What you put together last year, really in a couple of weeks, really speaks to the spirit of our town,” he said. “It’s really great.”
As for the event Fall Back Into Milton replaced, Zombie Fest, Milton Theatre spokesman JP Lacap said the theater has made no plans for the festival at this time. Theater officials have expressed interest in returning to Milton again in the future. Lacap said organizers behind Fall Back Into Milton have indicated to him that they want the two events to be independent of each other.
