It was fitting that for the McCleary Bear Festival Royalty’s Fall Festival held on Sunday, Oct. 5, the weather was an ideal fall day – a bit of chill in the morning and by the afternoon warm enough for just a T-shirt.
From 2 to 7 p.m., attendees had their choice of activities, from playing carnival games, which included ghost popping and mini bowling, face painting, stopping by vendor booths, and visiting House Goat Haven’s petting zoo that featured goats, a cat and roosters. Also available were refreshments of cinnamon rolls, pumpkin donuts, and dinner options of chili, corn bread and apple cobbler. All proceeds went toward supporting the Bear Festival.
“This is the first round of the fall festival,” said Max Walker, father of Zoey, who is this year’s queen. “We’re giving it a shot, see how it goes.”
“We do bigger auctions, but I kind of felt like the community wasn’t really getting anything from it so I wanted to do something that was more interactive,” said Ashlee Rensald, mother of Ellie, who is a princess this year.
As for how the Fall Festival came together, “[Max]’s the brains behind it. I come up with wild ideas, and he puts it together,” Rensald said, adding that “My thought was vendors will be something to do for adults while the kids can see the petting zoo and play free games.”
The idea for asking House Goat Haven to attend the Fall Festival is because the petting zoo at this year’s Bear Festival was a hit.
The Bear Festival royalty court – Zoey, Ellie and Ailee – assisted in organizing the event and overseeing activities.
“They also sit in on all of our meetings where we talk about budget, and we talk about marketing and we make the schedule for the parades,” said Rensald. “The girls are a part of every process, which I think is amazing.”
The next event to see the Royalty Court at is the Fall Carnival hosted by the McCleary Wildcat Boosters on Saturday, Oct. 11 from 4 to 7 p.m. at the McCleary School. Discussions are underway for future fundraising events later this year and early next year.
Although the 2026 Bear Festival is 272 days away, as per the countdown on the McCleary Bear Festival website, Walker said they are already building next year’s float. The first event is in April at the Daffodil Festival held in Puyallup. They are accepting applications for princesses and the forms are found on the website — https://www.mcclearybearfestival.org/forms.
