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17th Annual Watson’s Fall Festival
Beautiful Fall Decorations
Vendors and Activities
Come celebrate the harvest season at State Center’s 17th Annual
Watson’s Fall Festival on Friday evening, October 9, along the
Lincoln Highway in downtown State Center. The celebration, hosted
by the State Center Historical Society, the State Center Development
Association, and State Center area businesses, runs from 5:00 to
7:00 p.m. and centers around the historic Watson’s Grocery Store
Museum, built in 1895 on State Center’s historic Main Street.
Watson’s Grocery is the place to be as the State Center Historical
Society hosts their homemade pie and ice cream sale inside the
store’s tall double doors. The Historical Society welcomes donations
of homemade pies, cakes, and bars for the sale that afternoon.
The 7th Annual Pumpkin Decorating Contest will also be held inside
the store, with winners determined by a popular vote of visitors
throughout the evening. Pumpkin entries can be dropped off at the
store between 4:00 and 5:00 that afternoon.
In the street outside, the State Center Farmers Market will host its
final night for this season. The Farmers Market will feature baked
goods, beauty products, crafts, clothing, and various autumnal
produce. For those looking for a quick and tasty meal, State Center’s
own Hometown Foods will be grilling in the market area. Longtime
market favorite, Dick Ferneau, will be entertaining with his organ
music throughout the evening. Free for the kids, will be the ever-
popular Bounce House. Also for the kids, and adults alike, will be free
hayrides on a tractor-drawn hayrack, with pick-ups and drop-offs in
the street outside Watson’s front doors.
Just east of Watson’s Grocery, the folks from Mitchell Family Funeral
Home, West Marshall Chapel, will be serving free caramel apples to
visitors stopping in.
Watson’s new next door neighbor to the west, NuCara Pharmacy, will
also be busy that night. The folks at NuCara and the local police
department are partnering up to host their first “Take Back Night”, an
event where visitors are invited to bring in their bottles of expired
and/or unused prescription medicines for safe disposal.
Down the street at Jacobson Portrait Studio, students from the West
Marshall High School Art Department will be hosting their Fall Art
Show, a benefit exhibition to raise money for the group’s upcoming
Spring of ’16 Art Trip, where they will be traveling to Kansas City, with
its art-related attractions, such as the Crown Center and the Nelson-
Atkins Museum of Art. Admission to the Fall Art Show is a free-will
donation.
For your shopping convenience, various downtown area businesses
will remain open later that evening.
The citizens of State Center invite you to come to town on Friday,
October 9, and help them celebrate this bountiful harvest season
along the Lincoln Highway in the heart of Iowa with an evening of
dining, shopping, and family entertainment on their historic Main
Street.
