Kellogg debuting new Halloween festival

KELLOGG –– A new festival will be making its debut next week as the city of Kellogg presents Kelloween.

While numerous organizations and communities host Halloween events that include small carnivals or trunk ‘r treats, Kellogg didn’t really have anything that they could call their own for the spooky holiday.

Kellogg’s community planner Monica Miller has always loved Halloween and thought that fall time in Kellogg was the perfect setting for its own fun Halloween event. After speaking with Kellogg resident Brendan Bonner, they came up with an idea for an event that would offer a little something for everyone.

“I thought it would be really cool if we could have an event and just began firing off some ideas to him,” Miller said. “He agreed and thought that it could be even bigger if they got businesses involved. Three hours later I got a text from him that said Radio (Brewing) was in, what are we doing.”

What they came up with was so much more than they had anticipated.

Kelloween will feature a costume contest, scream contest, live music, a beer garden, and trick or treating throughout the businesses of uptown Kellogg – and that’s just the stuff being done for the families. Once 7 p.m. hits, the haunted alley will open up and the event gets a little spookier for the 13+ crowd.

As Miller began asking the businesses of Kellogg if they would be interested in participating in one capacity or another, she received almost unanimous support.

“I think a lot more people like Halloween than we realized, and it’s that perfect in-between season before the holidays where you don’t get anything before Thanksgiving and Christmas,” Miller said. “And even then, you’re trying to cram in a bunch of travel or family time. We wanted to do something where people could come celebrate a fun holiday together, be still, and just enjoy the season.”

Miller believes that uptown Kellogg is the perfect setting for a Halloween festival because it already has a vibe that seemingly makes the transition into spooky season an easy one.

Locals may have already noticed several scarecrows being propped up throughout the uptown business district, these decorations are part of a contest that was designed to get everyone in the Halloween spirit.

“I was visiting my friend in Oklahoma, and they do this contest in her town where the businesses decorate scarecrows and then display them throughout the city and people can vote on the one they like the most,” Miller explained.

Some of the scarecrows in Kellogg are cute, some are funny, and some are quite literally scary.

“It’s been a lot of fun to see people get in on the contest and get in the Halloween spirit,” Miller said.

The hope is that after this first-ever Kelloween, the community will embrace the idea and maybe even make it part of the city’s identity moving forward.

“There’s a chance that if people really enjoy this and it’s successful, that we could make it a thing moving forward – maybe create a reputation as like a Halloween town,” Miller said.

Voting on the scarecrow contest will run through November 3, and people can vote by either scanning the QR code next to the scarecrow, visiting the city’s website, or dropping a written ballot into the Frankenstein ballot box at Kellogg City Hall.

Kelloween is Saturday, October 28, from 3 p.m. through 10 p.m. in the old McConnell Hotel lot near Main Street and McKinley Avenue.

Kellogg High School is also hosting its haunted house the same evening, but Miller has organized the Kellogg Trolley to shuttle people back and forth between Kelloween and the haunted house.

For more information, please contact Monica Miller at her office at (208) 786-9131.