Fairy Tale Trail
Saturday, October 25th
10:00 a.m. -- 2:00 p.m.
Public Admission:
$5 per adult / child (infants under 6 months are free)
All proceeds go back into the Trail and provide Field Trips and Bus Scholarships to over 400 children with physical, cognitive or economic challenges each year!
Attendees are encouraged to come in costume!
Fairy Tale Trail (FTT), also known as “The Trail”, is the largest community outreach project of The Woman’s Club of Evanston. The mission of The Trail is to provide a safe, non-frightening, fun Halloween experience for children of all ages and abilities. The Trail is open to all children in the North Shore and Chicagoland, with a special focus on those who are physically, cognitively, or economically challenged.
Each year the clubhouse ballroom is transformed into an interconnected maze of eight different themed rooms – each featuring a different children’s story or theme. Costumed characters interact with children to encourage exploration and participation in multi-sensory activities to engage and enchant children with and without special needs.
The Trail has been in operation continuously since 1990 and has provided more than 30,000 children with accessible, non-frightening Halloween fun. FTT is a completely self-funded project. Trail maintenance and field trips for school programs for physically, cognitively or economically challenged students, who may not otherwise experience Halloween due to physical or financial limitations, are funded from donations, fundraising events such as the Character Meet & Greet, and the Public Hours general admission fees.
In 2013, FTT offered free field trips to over 400 children from over a dozen schools, as well as provided bus scholarships for those schools that were unable to afford the transportation.
The current rooms:
- Once Upon A Time – an enchanted fantasyland filled with princesses, knights, dragons and fairies.
- Tykes Town – a bustling town where children can visit the local veterinarian’s office, shop at the grocery store, build a skyscraper at the constructions site or drop in to Bob the Builder’s workshop.
- Magic – Wizards and Science come together with magical creatures from Harry Potter, Narnia and other mystical lands.
- Under The Sea – Mermaids, Pirates and ocean inhabitants guard treasure on the ocean floor.
- Nursery Rhymes – Mother Goose holds court over a land from nursery rhymes. The Three Bears, the Little Pigs, the Gingerbread Man, the Old Woman who lived in a shoe, and Little Bo Peep are some of the cast of characters.
- The Farm – Welcome to the Farm! Meet our farmer and some of his animals and dig up some fresh produce.
- Things That Go – Planes, Trains, Automobiles and all your other favorite means of transportation.
- The Jungle Room – Join your favorite jungle animals in creating rhythms and sounds as you rock to the beat of the rainforest orchestra.
Schools with programs for physically, cognitively or economically challenged students who may not otherwise experience Halloween due to physical or financial limitations attend free of charge for a special weekday field trip. A nominal admission fee charged to the general public during weekend hours funds all expenses for running and maintaining The Trail, including bus scholarships. The Trail hosts approximately 400 school children and more than 1,000 additional visitors.
New in 2014, there will be an exciting new fundraising event to support The Trail, school field trips and bus scholarships - the VIP Character Meet & Greet Experience.
This special event will take place on Saturday, October 25
th from 8:30 – 10:30am and will allow your child to mix and mingle as a VIP with the fantastic residents of Fairy Tale Trail. In addition to some of our most popular characters, you will have exclusive access to our brand new Trail residents - Elsa and Anna the
Frozen Princesses, every toddler’s favorite bear - Winnie the Pooh and our favorite superhero – Captain America!
Your child will have their very own Photo Op with one of our Characters and receive a digital copy to keep (they will be a star at their next show and tell!) Food, fun, activities and surprises will make this a memorable experience for the whole family! Nili Yelin,
The Storybook Mom, will be sharing Halloween tales from 9:00 am-9:45 am! Face painting by Vibrant Image Paintings will be available from 8:30 am – 10:30 am!
The VIP experience is complete with exclusive early access to The Trail and Saturday admission included in the package.
Click
here for more info and to register for the VIP Meet & Greet event!
For additional information, please email
fairytaletrail@wcofe.org