Dayton On Display Saturday

DAYTON - Dayton on Tour will feature the all- new Fall Festival, a free and family-friendly event so big, the city will be closing part of First Street.

First Street will be closed between Dingle's of Dayton and State Farm Insurance for the new event, Brad McMas- ters, the Dayton Chamber of Commerce director, said. The area will be decorated with a fall theme featuring art by local students.

Free activities like face painting and crafts for children will dominate the event as well as horse-and-carriage tours by AJ Carriages of Prescott. The tours will be 30-minutes long through one of Dayton's historic neigh- borhoods, McMasters said.

"It's the most fun a person can have at 2 mph," McMas- ters said.

The Kiwanis Club will provide grilled sausages and a school group will sell bev- erages, McMasters said.

Fall Festival Chairwoman Cara Breland-Watts said there will be many fun ac- tivities for families to par- ticipate in.

Breland-Watts said War- ren Orchards will be do- nating apples to tie on strings and have kids try to take bites out. The Walla Walla State Penitentiary offered to donate pump- kins, Breland-Watts said, but the deer got into the pumpkin patch so she isn't sure how many will end up at the festival. Decora- tions will include flags and artwork pinned up across the street, decorated by Breland-Watts' preschool class.

"I'm excited about the whole thing," Breland-Watts said.

Breland-Watts said the event is important to her because she wants Dayton to remain an area of interest for tourists.

"We don't want our lit- tle town to just go away," Breland-Watts said. "We love our little town."

Last year, the Times re- ported that participation was low overall for the event. McMasters said the chamber will be working with AMI Advertising to help drive more participation to Dayton on Tour.

"We've used a combina- tion of press releases, print media, radio, social media and local event calendars in addition to the distribution of posters and postcards," McMasters said. "We are confident our message was received by many people interested in art, history and our special community."

McMasters said he is ex- cited about the art crawl this year which will take place at nine local venues; The Liberty Theater lobby (open from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.), Dayton Depot, Wenaha Gal- lery, Gallery at the Weinhard Hotel, Weinhard Café, Mace Mead Works, Grain House Grill, Village Shoppes and Palus Museum.

For folks wanting to wan- der around town, they can tour historic homes in the area starting at 1 p.m.

McMasters said he is also excited about the artists and artisans who will be exhibit- ing in the Dayton Historic Depot courtyard. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. - Art Crawl at nine local venues Numerous downtown ven- ues will be displaying local art for free. Visit all loca- tions for an opportunity to win framed art. Pick up an Art Crawl map at any of the participating venues: The Liberty Theater Lobby (open from 11-3), Historic Dayton Depot, Wenaha Gal- lery, Gallery at the Weinhard Hotel, Weinhard Café, Mace Mead Works, Grain House Grill, Village Shoppes, Palus Museum. Get your Art Crawl Map stamped at each location. At the final location, fill out a card to be eligible to win local art-related prizes. in Dayton Depot courtyard Local artists/artisans demonstrating their talents at the Depot Courtyard 4 to 5 p.m. - Art and wine event upstairs at the Depot gallery Join us upstairs at the Depot Gallery.