Along with the conclusion of William Jewell College’s homecoming week, the fourth weekend of September brought with it the annual Fall Festival – three days of carnival rides, food trucks and stalls of handcrafted wares transforming Liberty, Missouri’s downtown streets. 

Alas, this year’s festival was abruptly interrupted by storms which plagued Kansas City and the surrounding towns for much of Friday and Saturday. 

Erring on the side of caution, festival organizers opted to shut down the festival as lightning was detected in the area. The prospect of children being suspended hundreds of feet in the air on a metal ferris wheel in the middle of a lightning storm was hardly worth the risk. 

Despite being cut short, the event was well attended by community members. Over 1,000 people RSVPed as “going” on the Fall Festival’s Facebook event, and approximately 11,000 people indicated they were “interested” in the event. 

In attendance at this year’s festival were 175 Arts and Craft booths, 100 parade floats, an array of food trucks and several carnival rides, courtesy of Jones & Company Carnival.

While some of the vendors present were long-standing crowd favorites who have been in attendance for several years, others were new to the event. For example, there was a mobile WoodChux truck which provided metal shurikens – aka ninja stars – for participants to throw at wooden targets

The event’s theme was “Bridging Liberty,” an ode to the newly opened MO Highway 152 bridge facilitating the flow of traffic to and from Liberty. 

Historically, the event can be traced back to 1934 and has ties to the Clay County 4-H and to Jewell’s Homecoming events. 

The event is now organized by the Liberty Area Chamber of Commerce and, according to Gayle Potter – the Liberty Area Chamber of Commerce president, it is better than ever before. 

“We are not getting bigger, but we are getting better,” Potter said. 

Though Liberty residents may be disappointed that the weather interrupted the festival events, there is always next year to look forward to. The next Liberty Fall Festival is scheduled for the fourth weekend of September 2020. 

Junior international relations, non-profit and Applied Critical Thought and Inquiry major, Sarah Hempleman, said her favorite part of the fair was “the food and seeing all the different vendors.”

There were a wide variety of booths each day, featuring over 175 arts and crafts booths. On the opening night, Friday, Sept. 28, the streets were lined with tents. Many of the tents sold homegoods and unique art – from handcrafted ceramics to metal work. Vendor’s products ranged from candles to window blinds.

During the three days of the Fest, they had live music on the back steps of the court house. The bands featured two past Voice contestants, Country artists Brother Walkers and Casi Joy. The live bands played classics and some originals while offering good music to enjoy the night.

Another fun part of the Fall Fest was the bright carnival. The carnival lasted from 5 to 10:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday night, and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday – the rides were always in full motion. The carnival is what brought most Jewell students to the Fest. There were rides that spun in circles and some that went upside down, but personally, my favorite ride was the ferris wheel. It was a great way to see the fest and the rest of Liberty from up above. The ferris wheel was also popular for pictures. It captured the perfect lighting at night with its changing bulbs that flashed blue and red.

The annual Fall Fest parade was on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 29. Many local dance teams, cheerleaders, and liberty businesses walked in the Fall Fest parade, including our very own Cardinal Cheerleaders.

First-year international relations and business major, Grace Garbe, said, “it was a great experience seeing all of the Liberty community come out and see the parade! And being able to be a part of that was even cooler.”

The parade’s theme this year was “Oh, the places we can go!” and the floats that featured local businesses decorated accordingly. Each float was decorated with unique props that followed the theme and advertised their service.

Sophomore Oxbridge: molecular biology major Caitlin Overmeyer, said “the floats were really cute and colorful and the parade seemed to be really well organized overall.”

An overarching favorite of all the students in attendance at the Fest was the food, because who doesn’t love fried sweets? There was a food vendor for every type of craving. A Chinese food truck sold crab rangoons and rice while another vendor sold funnel cakes. They offered so many sweets it was hard not to blow all my money on food. A crowd favorite was the kettle corn and fried oreos. For drinks there were A%W’s famous rootbeer float and a citrus drink called Texas Twister, that included over three different citrus fruits fused together, among others. If the carnival and vendors didn’t win you over at the Liberty Fall Fest, the food sure did.

Overall, the Fall Fest was a fun time to go and hang out with your friends and enjoy the night. The 2018 sponsors and partners did a great job at putting on a Fest that was fun, safe, and exciting for all ages.

If you want to keep the fall feels going there’s a lot of great events coming up around the Kansas City area. Oct. 19-20, Powell Gardens is hosting their annual event Glow: The Magic of Nature with fall Jack-O-Lanterns food trucks, cocktails, live music and night hayrides in their Botanical Gardens. Weston Missouri is putting on their 30th annual AppleFest Saturday, Oct. 6, from 10-6 p.m. featuring all things apple and fall. Another cool place to go check out is KC wine Co, located in Olathe Kansas. This vineyard is always throwing fun events and is a perfect back drop for those cute fall pictures. Finally, don’t forget to check out the usual favorite pumpkin patch; Fun Farm  in Kearney and my personal favorite; Louisburg Cider Mill, which sells the best donuts during the fall season.

Photos by MacKenzie Roth