The Atwood Area Fall Festival opens Friday and runs through Sunday with vendors, food trucks, kids' activities, and live entertainment. (Atwood Area Fall Festival)

MINERAL CITY (Tusco TV) - Atwood Area Fall Festival organizers are making sure this year’s visitors won’t have to sit around and wait for a shuttle to pick them up.

Festival President Jim Downing says they’ve added a second big shuttle and a couple of six-passenger golf carts to transport people to and from the festival that opens Friday and runs through Sunday. 

“We’re trying to improve the flow of people coming in and out of the festival and the reason we added shuttle service was to try to keep people off the blacktop and make the shuttle service more efficient,” he says. 

Downing says they’ve also improved accessibility a new pedestrian walkway and more handicapped parking.

“When they get out of their vehicle, it’s all on blacktop. It’s not on dirt. Everything is blacktop, and there’s probably, I’m going to guess, 120 handicapped parking spots,” he says.

Downing says this year’s festival will have something for everybody including over 100 vendors, entertainment on three stages, 22 food trucks, a large car show on Sunday, and a children’s area. 

“We have a tent set up. Children will do crafts and a scavenger hunt, a children’s tractor pull on Saturday afternoon. We also have a petting zoo in that area. We’ll have five blow-ups in that area for the kids to play on,” Downing says. 

He says they try to make it an enjoyable outdoor experience for the entire family.

“You get to see the fall leaves changing out here and you get to see a good view. We’re right on the Atwood Lake. We’ve got benches set all around. If you get tired, you can sit down enjoy the view of the lake, and it’s just a good outdoor festival for families. It’s a family-oriented festival,” he says.

Festival admission is $5 for adults and teens and free for children 12 and under, and Downing says they’re running an opening-day special Friday where seniors 55 and over get in for $2. Directions to the festival and a full schedule can be found at atwoodfallfest.org.

TUSCO TV