Falcon businesses and organizations rallied for charities with three different October events.Craft fair and chili tastingThe Falcon Exchange Club and the Eastern Plains Chamber of Commerce joined forces and held a craft fair and chili tasting contest Oct. 24 to raise money for local charities.With warm weather the day of the event, “we were smiled upon,” said Mel Sharpe of Curves of Falcon, which co-sponsored the event.Patriot Learning Center donated space for the 10 local chili chefs and the 75 local craft vendors who packed the center’s auditorium.The Exchange Club organized the craft show, which drew crafters from Falcon, Calhan, Colorado Springs and Elizabeth, Colo.The club donated more than $2,000 raised from booth fees and food sales to High Plains Helping Hands Food Pantry. They also delivered toys, 369 pounds of food and 17 large bags of coats – all donated by craft fair attendees – to the pantry.The chamber organized the chili tasting event. Tickets for the event cost $5 and families who participated voted by leaving money in the cup of their favorite chili.The chamber also hosted a silent auction and sold its own chili for $1 a bowl. The proceeds – $500 – were split between Helping Hands and Grace Community Church, said Terri Hobbs, president.”Everybody had a fun time and there were a lot of great competitors,” said Ann McNeill, winner of the chili tasting event.McNeill described her chili as stew. “It’s thick. I use sirloin and pinto and black beans,” with cinnamon as the secret ingredient,” she said.Exchange Club member Leonore Misner helped organize the craft fair as part of the club’s commitment to community service. “(The fair) allows us to donate money to Helping Hands, supports local crafters and gives Falcon residents an opportunity to shop for Christmas gifts,” she said.This year’s craft fair was the club’s second in what has become an annual event.People can also donate canned goods, winter clothing and toys for Helping Hands by dropping them off at Curves of Falcon, 7663 McLaughlin Road, Misner said.Open barnPrairie Springs Farm at Black Forest Road and Templeton Gap Road held a Halloween Open Barn Oct. 24.The event featured free horse rides for kids, a hay ride, a reining demonstration, miniature horses, a maze and a costume contest in which people who board their horses at the farm dressed them up for Halloween.”We could not have held this event without the help of the boarders,” said the farm’s barn manager, Erin McLaughlin, who described the boarders’ good nature as the foundation of the friendly atmosphere at the barn.Proceeds from food sales, a raffle and a team sorting contest were donated to SB Grace Ranch and Rescue, a Black Forest nonprofit that rescues, rehabilitates, nurtures and re-homes horses that have been neglected, abused or are unwanted, according to its Web site at www.sbgrace.org.”It’s a fun event for horse people in the community,” McLaughlin said, as well as an opportunity for horse owners to learn about the farm’s boarding facilities.Harvest pumpkin carving contestSmith’s Farm Market at Highway 24 and Meridian Road held a pumpkin carving contest Oct. 17.The market’s owner, Adam Smith, said one of his employees, Lorria Merryfield organized the event to help Calhan’s Frontier Charter Academy in their efforts to purchase a bus for student field trips.Smith donated the pumpkins and offered cash prices of $100, $50 and $25 to the first, second and third place winners, Merryfield said.About 31 kids participated in the contest, buying pumpkins for the contest at $4 each, and several others bought pumpkins to carve at home, she said.Smith’s Farm Market is closed for the winter, but will reopen next year in mid-July with the first cantaloupes of the season, Smith said.
