Up to 3,000 expected Oct. 30 in Bancroft
Halloween theme to draw kids for ‘Peak Street,’ CASA benefit

       A combined promotional and charity event is expected to bring 1,000 or more children and perhaps 3,000 people in all to Bancroft Park Saturday, Oct. 30.
       The third annual “Peak Street” carnival and second annual Keeping Kids Connected Holiday Benefit are scheduled simultaneously between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.
       This will be the first year that the two fall events are being joined. It will also be the first time they will be in Bancroft Park.
       For Peak Street, organized by 95.1 The Peak radio station, kids from ages 2 to about 14 will get to enjoy free games, toys, candy, a treasure hunt and other activities as a kind of daytime Halloween alternative. The radio also has been giving air time to promote the benefit, which will feature both a silent and a live auction.
       Many of the auction items have been donated by Old Colorado City merchants, and a number of corporate sponsors have also stepped up. Proceeds will support the Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) of Colorado Springs, non-profit organization whose volunteers represent abused and neglected children in the local court system.
       Lana Fore-Warkocz, publisher of eight Connect Colorado Magazines (advertising flyers) along the Front Range, started the fund-raiser last year. Colorado Springs was one of three locations (Fort Collins and Denver were the others).
       “It's amazing what these people need,” Fore said. “These are kids that have been totally neglected.”
       Bancroft Park was chosen as part of the thinking that led Fore and Cindy Weller, promotions director of the Peak, to combine their events, which previously had been held separately in the fall. Weller and Fore worked together on Peak Street last year, and, according to Weller they both started thinking, “We've got these two events at the same time. Why not run them together?”
       The benefit last year was at Mountasia on North Academy Boulevard, and Peak Street at a store at Union and Academy. “We decided to move into the daytime. It's a good atmosphere with the park and the trees and Scarecrow Days going on in Old Colorado City,” Weller said.
       She's not that concerned about the potential for cold weather. “Even if it's cold, it's OK, because kids will be wearing their costumes, and costumes are usually hot,” she said.
       Last year's benefit raised $25,000 total in the three Front Range locations, Fore said. “The donations just rolled in,” she said.
       Peak Street had 300 kids last year, double the year before. But Weller thinks it will really grow this year, partly because of the tie-in with the Holiday Benefit. The on-air promotions for Oct. 30 are saying the first 1,000 kids will get a free gift bag. Also, she said promoters insist that parents stay with their kids. “We're not a babysitting service,” she explained.
       With the radio promotion, Fore estimated there could be as many as 3,000 people in all.

Westside Pioneer article