Free live music and activities for kids in the park

 by Heather Perlberg

    Veterans Park will be bustling with music, art and Halloween-related activities during the Dundalk Renaissance Corp.-sponsored fall festival at the end of the month.
    The third annual Dundalk Family Fall Festival on Saturday, Oct. 31, coordinated by DRC Main Street manager Jennifer Funn, will feature Halloween and doggy costume contests, live music, arts and crafts, a scarecrow-stuffing station and roaming entertainers.
  

 Funn, a New York native, has an event planning and catering background as well as experience organizing large events. After working for the Prince George’s County Department of Social Services, she started a  catering business that was featured on the CBS Early Show.
    “This is my first big event in Dundalk,” Funn said, adding that several local high schools and parent-teacher associations got involved with this year’s festival. “I’ve had a great deal of support from the community.”
    The afternoon festivities, which run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., also will include a Halloween trick-or-treat parade along Main Street, a pumpkin-carving contest, sing-alongs and magic shows.
    Baltimore Art and Music Project will help children make their own instruments and costumes as well as provide some musical entertainment.
    “We’re hoping that we have over 1,000 people,” Funn said. Last year’s fall festival brought a crowd of about 1,000 throughout the day.
    Funn said that while children are being entertained by a roaming clown and balloon maker and face painters, adults can purchase locally grown produce at the weekly Dundalk Village Farmers’ Market or food from any of a variety of vendors.
    Pumpkins grown by local farmers and carved by students from Patapsco High School and Center for the Arts, Dundalk High and Sparrow Point High will be on display in the park.
    Admission to the festival and related activities  is free. Funn said the DRC’s goal is “to provide a safe and wholesome Halloween in Dundalk.”
    A Dundalk resident, Funn was familiar with the DRC well before applying for a position to work with the organization. She replaced Jordan Hadfield, becoming the new Main Street manager in May.            “I wanted not only to live in the community  but I wanted to be part of the community. It’s been wonderful meeting so many people. I’ve never lived in a community before where so many people are involved,” said Funn, who moved to Maryland after graduating from Virginia State University and has been here since.
    “Dundalk is a very unique community. Part of my comfort [here] is having grown up in an urban setting.”
    As Main Street manager, Funn has already immersed herself in local organizations such as Baltimore Arts and Music Project, the Old Dundalk Neighborhood Association and the St. Helena Neighborhood Association.
    “I attend their meetings,” Funn said. “I lend my support wherever I can.”
    Funn said one of her priorities is “to bring the shopping center back up to the standards that historically it deserves,” making it and the surrounding area “a safe place for us to raise our children and our families.”
The DRC is still accepting donations of candy and old clothes for the festival’s scarecrow-stuffing workshop. Items can be dropped off at the DRC office, 81 Shipping Place.