Village of Rock Creek enjoys first Fall Festival

ROCK CREEK — The Rock Creek Public Library hosted its first-ever Fall Festival Saturday at the ‘old church.’ Many residents reached out to the library after the success of the village’s 175th birthday celebration, wanting to bring more events to the area. “The community likes to have things that’s for them that we don’t have to seek out in other towns,” Library Assistant Director Amanda Goodban said.

“It’s nice to have something in the hometown for everybody.” Library Assistant Ashlee Dietsch said she was thrilled with the turnout, and the community’s enthusiasm. “It’s going great,” she said.



“We had vendors show up earlier than scheduled, and we already have attendees coming in a little before two o’clock ...

everyone’s excited. We’ve got a really good turnout for our vendors.” The festival featured 27 vendors, many of them local.

Handmade crochet items, pumpkins, candles, antiques and live caricature art was available to attendees. Dietsch said Bob Anderson, a chainsaw carver, was their Rock Creek gem. Anderson was doing live demonstrations at the event.

“I like taking a piece of raw material and making it a piece of art,” he said. “I try to make fun things [for the kids] like the big turtle. The kids like to climb on it.

” In addition to vendors, the library featured a spooky putt-putt course inside the church, which gained popularity earlier this month. “We had almost 60 people show up for that event alone,” Dietsch said. A bounce house was also available.

“I work with a lot of the kids at Rock Creek, and it’s so fun to see them come in and enjoy something free that’s fun for the community,” Library Assistant Nadia Wheeler said. “We’ve been working on it for a long time at the library. So it’s fun to see the whole community come together.

” The festival also featured live music. Many locals came out to support the festival. Rock Creek resident Amber Guariglia said she thought it would be fun for her kids to come out and see what there was.

“Inside is so cute, the little putt-putt,” she said. “All of the vendors are so sweet too and they’ve been so kind to the kids.” Rock Creek resident Sheila LaRosa was with her granddaughter Amelia, who just got her face painted.

“We just wanted to support the library and see what’s going on,” she said. “It’s nice.” Laura Jarvis, who lives in Austinburg, said she saw on ad on Facebook about the event.

“We came out to check it out and see what it was all about,” she said. “I have a daughter out doing the crafts right now and he’s [Jarvis’ son] trying out the putt-putt. My parents drove all the way from Akron to come out here.

“The people are really friendly, it’s got great food ...

we just had some twisted egg rolls ...

that was really good. So far everything has been really fun.” The library plans to host the festival again next year.

“We’re probably going to aim for earlier in September next year, as October is a very packed month,” Dietsch said. “We want to start planning it earlier and advertise more.” Rock Creek Councilperson Brian Kinkopf said there was amazing turnout.

“I think it would be awesome for everybody to get back together and do a lot of these events throughout the summertime,” he said..