Upcoming Events
There’s a great mix of events happening
across the area this month.
Following are a few that caught my eye:
Guaranteed Eagle Sighting — Sunday, Oct. 4, from noon to 3 p.m. at Peers Store, 16011 Concord Hill Rd., Marthasville.
A bald eagle from the World Bird Sanctuary will be the main attraction, but there also will be live bluegrass music being played on the porch and fall color on display in the Peers Prairie. This event is sponsored by Magnificent Missouri, a nonprofit organization founded in 2012 to conserve and increase appreciation of the Katy Trail and the last 100 miles of the Missouri River Valley through education, events and collaborative projects. Visit www.magnificentmissouri.org for more information.
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All Hail, the KC Chiefs! — Thursday, Oct. 8, from 7 to 8 p.m. at Washington Public Library, 410 Lafayette St., in downtown Washington.
David Smale, author of “The Keys to the Kingdom: An Illustrated Timeline of the Kansas City Chiefs,” will hold a presentation and book signing for his coffee table-style book that offers an historical look at the team, from its beginning as the Dallas Texans through its 2020 championship season. Smale has covered professional, college and high school sports for more than 40 years and has published 21 books.
Copies of “Keys to the Kingdom,” published by Reedy Press, are available through neighborhoodreads.com. Register to attend this virtual Friends of the Washington Public Library author event by calling the library at 636-390-1070 or sending an email to whswish@yhti.net.
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Backyard Book Fair — Saturday, Oct. 10, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the backyard of Neighborhood Reads bookstore at 401 Lafayette St. in downtown Washington.
Books for all ages and reading abilities, including hundreds of hardcovers, will be available. A $1 suggested donation for paperbacks and $5 suggested donation for hardcovers.
Proceeds will benefit the Community Literacy Foundation, a nonprofit organization established in fall 2019, and the Four Rivers Area Family YMCA Literacy Council.
Learn more about the Community Literacy Foundation at www.communityliteracyfoundation.org.
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Nightmare Off Elm Street — Thursday, Oct. 15, from 5 to 8 p.m.
Downtown Washington merchants are organizing a Halloween-themed block party that will include a street magician, stilt walker and fire eater, as well as special activities and food vendors at various shops. For example, Plush, at 310 Elm St., will have a Medium and a Tarot Card reader to entertain shoppers, and Marc Houseman will be offering haunted tours of the Swallow's Nest Building (former Nieburg-Vitt Funeral Home) beginning at 5:30 p.m.
Exit 11 will be set up at The Painted Home offering a special brew, and other store owners are making their own plans.
Merchants participating in the Nightmare Off Elm include:
Fairy Tale Cookie Co., Scudder and Co., Loyal Bella, Neighborhood Reads, the Hive, Vintage Trader, Cutee Girls Boutique, Plush Home & Fashion, Country Living, The Painted Home, IB Nuts & Fruit Too, Envy, Four Seasons Florist, Vino di Lafayette, Marquart’s Landing, 1869 Draft Room, Mondern Vintage, Benitos, Olivino Tasting Bar and Serendipity Beyond Design.
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Trees of Treloar and Treloar Elevator Party — Sunday, Oct. 18, from noon to 4 p.m. at the Treloar Trailhead on the Katy Trail.
This 10th annual event will include music from the Southwest Watson Sweethearts with Mat Wilson, vintage farm equipment from the Warren County Old Threshers, tram rides on the Katy Trail with Missouri State Parks, and jalapeño bratwursts prepared by members of the Marthasville Volunteer Fire Department.
The newly planted “Trees of Treloar” will be on display. This native tree planting effort by nonprofits Magnificent Missouri and Forest ReLeaf includes oak, persimmon, pawpaw and other Missouri River valley natives.
Before being cleared for today’s farm fields, the river bottom near Treloar was filled with pecan, oak and sycamore trees. The Trees of Treloar will be a place to celebrate Magnificent Missouri’s goal of reforesting areas along the Katy Trail to provide shade and beauty for trail users, habitat for wildlife and pollinators, and runoff control for a healthy watershed.
Assistance on the project will be provided by Mike Rood of Pea Ridge Forest, Bill Spradley at Trees, Forests and Landscapes, and Missouri State Parks.
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Boo Bash in Union — Friday, Oct. 23, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the city park, 575 N. Christina Ave.
This annual free family community event organized by the Union Area Chamber of Commerce and Union Parks and Recreation Department is designed for children ages 10 and under. Children of all ages must be supervised by parent/guardian at all times.
Children 10 and under can participate in a costume contest under the large pavilion. Prizes will be awarded in the following age categories: newborn-1, 2-4, 5-7, 8-10, and group/family. Pre-registration is not required; just be under the pavilion no later than 6 p.m., because the contest will start promptly at 6:15 p.m.
For more information, call the Chamber at 636-583-8979.
Stick around for UPRD's Trunk-or-Treat! Activities include trick-or-treating, hay rides and refreshments. For more information on these activities, please call UPRD at 636-583-8471.
Shop Local, Support Local — Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 24-25, at Neighborhood Reads bookstore, 401 Lafayette St. in downtown Washington.
Ten percent of all book sales between Oct. 24-25 will be donated to the Franklin County Area United Way, which in 2018 supported more than 70,000 people across the community through 53 local agencies and programs.
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Votes for Women Poster Exhibit — Now Through Nov. 30 at Washington Public Library, 410 Lafayette St. in downtown Washington.
After generations of struggle for suffrage, the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed in 1919 and ratified in August 1920. To celebrate the 100th anniversary, the Smithsonian Institution of Traveling Exhibition Service in collaboration with the National Portrait Gallery and with support from the Smithsonian American Women’s History Initiative organized a 10-piece poster exhibit, “Votes for Women: A Portrait of Persistence.”
“When Black women were excluded from some suffrage organizations, they formed separate advocacy groups,” one poster reads. “In the 1910s, activists staged nonviolent tactics of protest like parades and picketing.”
At the 1913 suffrage march in Washington, D.C., Ida B. Wells (1862-1931), an investigative reporter who crusaded against lynching, refused to walk in the back where Black women were being segregated, the exhibit notes. “Instead she took her place at the front of the Illinois delegation.”
Another poster highlights Fannie Lou Hamer: “In 1962, when Fannie Lou Hamer (1917-1977) tried to register to vote, she was denied on the grounds that she was illiterate. Though the 19th Amendment barred sex as a reason for restricting political rights, racists created barriers to voting like literacy test and poll taxes.”
The exhibit is on display in the Washington Public Library's Art Gallery, located just off the lobby area and outside of the meeting rooms.
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#Katy Trail Trees Photo Contest — Now Through Dec. 21, 2020.
Open to all photographers, professional and amateur (meaning cell phones cameras are acceptable), this contest is designed to celebrate the most beautiful time of year along the Katy Trail, when Missouri’s spectacular native trees are showing their colors.
To enter, take a photo of any tree that draws your attention between St. Charles and Mckittrick, along the Katy Trail and Highway 94. If possible, include the type of tree and the mile marker. All trees are eligible, but the judges are partial to native trees such as Cottonwoods, Pecans, Walnuts, Oaks, Sycamores and Pawpaws, said Ralph Pfremmer, executive director of Magnificent Missouri.
Post your photo to Instagram or Facebook using the hashtag #KatyTrailTrees and tag @MagnificentMissouri and @PeersStore.
Enter as many times as you’d like.
Prints of the top three entries will be exhibited in the windows of the Treloar Mercantile building in Spring 2021, which is located at the Treloar trailhead across the street from the future site of “Trees of Treloar.” The photographers also will receive gift certificates for merchandise at the Peers Store: $100 for first place, $75 for second and $50 for third.