We loved visiting St. Charles, MO, last October for the inaugural season of the Legends and Lanterns festival. We had a great time, and you never would have known that it was in its first year, because everything was so well-organized, and the event ran so smoothly. We’ve been looking forward to going back for the second year, which is scheduled for October 21-22 and 28-29, (plus some evening hours for the Main Street Pumpkin Glow on the 27th), and yesterday was the day! Because the first year went so well, I can’t say I was looking forward to seeing how they worked out the kinks, because there were no kinks to work out. I was however, looking forward to seeing what they added!

The biggest change was the addition of some new characters. We visited Sweeney Todd and Mrs. Lovett on Fleet Street, heard some bad pirate jokes from Blackbeard, danced for Miss Havisham, admired Medusa’s hair, and hoped the Big Bad Wolf wouldn’t eat us. There also seemed to be more tour guides/storytellers wandering around between hay rides, too.

We also ran into plenty of familiar characters from last year, including Stingy Jack, Edgar Allan Poe, Lizzie Borden, and a group of angry villagers, who also happen to be talented singers! I didn’t get pictures of every character we saw this time, but we saw them all, save Ichabod Crane!

I am still impressed with the static stations set up and marked by lanterns unique to each character. It makes it easy to keep track of the characters because you know exactly where to look for them. It also makes it easier to make notes of who you missed!

All the fall decor in St. Charles is beautiful…and there were even a few trees with colorful leaves, which seems like a rarity in St. Louis following a warm, dry fall!

La Plaza del Dia de los Muertos at Berthold Square Park was a very happening place…in addition to face painting, there were crafts for kids, too! And of course La Catrina was there to share about the customs unique to Mexico’s Day of the Dead.

We enjoyed taking a “straw poll” for our favorite scarecrow in Scarecrow Glen…like last year, I was very impressed with how clever people are when assembling their creations!

The other big difference this year was the Legends and Lanterns passport. Last year’s book was excellent, filled with history and fun little puzzles and games (and I still think Christmas Traditions could benefit from something similar). But it was a pretty small book, and the stickers were tiny. This year’s book is much larger, and weighter…it’s still full of great historical information and activities, and there’s plenty of room for the much larger stickers. This was a great improvement that I didn’t even think was necessary!

We had a really fun afternoon in St. Charles…

…and just think, we’ll be back before too long, because Christmas Traditions starts next month!