Submitted story

WEST LIBERTY – Enjoy free historical autumn games, Halloween customs and storytelling at Piatt Castle Mac-A-Cheek on Oct. 27, 4 p.m.

All ages are welcome to enjoy the autumnal setting at Mac-A-Cheek Castle flanked with fields and woods where you can participate in autumn games and Halloween customs that day. Participants at the free 90-minute outdoor program will celebrate autumn by making toys and playing games from objects of nature, bobbing apples on a string, exploring “corny facts and kernels of knowledge,” a giant interactive quilted corn with husks, and playing a bean-bag toss game inspired by a 1916 poem by James Whitcomb Riley about corn standing in the fields.

You are welcome to show how you celebrate Halloween today by wearing a costume. Through storytelling, you’ll discover how our American customs grew from ancient practices and popular literature. Our featured author this year is Ray Bradbury (1920-2012). Ensemble readers will share a frightening episode in his novel, Dandelion Wine, and the excitement of Halloween as celebrated in the 1930s from an article he published in Reader’s Digest titled, “Tricks! Treats! Gangway!” End the celebration around a community bonfire (weather permitting) and Trick or Treat.

This is the final 2024 event sponsored by the Mac-A-Cheek Foundation for the Humanities, a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization. It is free to the public thanks to support from the Mary Eleanor Morris Fund of the Columbus Foundation, Piatt Castle Mac-A-Cheek, series sponsor Jeffrey Glebocki and supporting sponsor, Tony St. Clair.

Oct. 27 is also the final day for facilitated, self-guided tours of Mac-A-Cheek Castle, from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Visit www.piattcastle.org for rates. The site is located at 10051 Township Road 47, West Liberty, Ohio 43357. For more information, call 937-465-2821 or contact [email protected].

Info from Piatt Castle