Fall Fest: Explosion of Color takes place for 3rd year

For the third year in a row, the "Fall Fest- Explosion of Color" event took place at the Bolingbrook Recreation and Aquatic Complex.

Superintendent of Facilities John Chase said the event usually expects between 1,000 and 2,000 people, but because of the weather, he wasn't sure what the crowd would be.

"Well we usually have between 1,000 and 2,000 people here and it does increase with size every single year," Chase said. "Even though it's raining and cloudy, I think so far there's a good amount of people here."

The family friendly event took place Saturday and had more than 20 activities for spectators to enjoy.

Most of the events that were available lasted the entire four hours, with Chase saying how popular some of them are every single year.

"We have a lot of family games that are running here today," Chase said. "Some of the more popular ones are the tricycle races, rock-climbing and the photo station."

On top of the usual events, a new event was added for this year.

"Mobile Axe Throwing Trailer" gained popularity as the fest went on, with children showcasing their skills and accuracy trying to pinpoint the axe to the bullseye.

Fountaindale Library's Bookmobile made an appearance for kids and families to enter, giving then the library experience right at their fingertips.

"The Bookmobile is pretty neat because the families get to enter as they would a car and there are different presentations and activities kids can engage in and listen to inside away from all of the other outdoor activities," Chase said.

Pumpkin bowling, a children's craft tent, knockdown game, team building exercises, pumpkin patch, casting contest, archery, sucker pull, canoeing, bingo, ring toss, mystery box exploration, a trolley, a horse and carriage, game tables, dance demonstration, live music from CFactor and fireworks were all also part of the third-year fest.

One other event that was the ultimate Nerf zone where kids were each handed a Nerf gun and had the opportunity to run around a maze while dodging and ducking their opponents in a friendly game of Nerf war drew a lot of attention and participants.  

Chase said the Explosion of Color event is always a hit and popular for the community members of Bolingbrook, and he believes it keeps growing in popularity because of the family environment it offers.

"Each year doing this fest we get more and more compliments which we of course love," Chase said. "People seem to really enjoy the variety of activities we have here, and we try to pick activities that will hit all age groups so I'm really happy with the turn out and how it's gone every single year."