Save the date: Legends of the Falls hayride Oct. 22-23
Todd Fox played the part of his fourth cousin, Oscar Fox, at the Fuchs Cemetery in Cottonwood Shores during the 2021 Legend of the Falls theatrical hayride. Listening is Preston Kirk as Adolf Fuchs. The 2022 event is set for Oct. 22-23. Staff photo by Suzanne Freeman
The 2022 Legends of the Falls theatrical hayride through Cottonwood Shores history is Oct. 22-23. New this year are an arts and crafts festival, live music, and other activities at the Civic Center, 4111 Cottonwood Drive. Ticket sales should begin sometime in late August or early September.
Last year’s inaugural Legends of the Falls sold out before opening day, so more hayrides have been added this year.
The festival is from 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 22, followed by live music from 6-8 p.m. and noon to 6 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 23. Hayrides depart on both days at noon, 1:30 p.m., 3 p.m., and 4:30 p.m.
Festival activities and live music are free. Hayride tickets are $10 each.
Legends of the Falls was a Favorite Theater Production in The Picayune’s 2022 Locals Love Us awards, voted on by The Picayune Magazine, DailyTrib.com, and 101HighlandLakes.com readers and KBEY 103.9 FM Radio Picayune listeners.
“To have that validation from the public — that we were voted the best — I’m thrilled,” Debbie Holloway, event coordinator and tour guide, told The Picayune Magazine earlier this year.
All of Cottonwood Shores serves as the stage for Legends of the Falls. The audience sits on hay bales in the back of a trailer, which is skillfully pulled and parked by the city’s mayor at each site. Last year, the Fuchs (Fox) Cemetery was the first stop, where several actors portraying characters buried there told their stories.
At one stop lakeside, a young Native American recalled his brutal murder at that location. Another murdered “ghost” tells how he ended up at the bottom of Dead Man’s Hole.
The 2022 production will change somewhat — one of the stops last year has since been torn down. Work is already underway to develop new characters and a new route.
“We want more of a festival-type atmosphere at the base site,” Holloway said. “We’ll have more booths, more activities for kids. We want to really draw people in.”
History remains the focus, she promised.
