What’s happening this weekend: Horse show fundraiser, open house and more

A look at events happening in the area this weekend:

Pumpkin Walk

The Pumpkin Walk in Downtown Urbana will be held through Saturday.

The event is a VIP Shopping Event “shop hop” where participants can purchase a passport and receive a gift/door prize at each shop they visit. Collect stamps at all locations and you will be entered to win one of two grand prize baskets.

Pre-sale tickets will be available for $25 at the Champaign County Visitors Bureau, Lily’s Garden, A Mustard Seed and Downtown Divas.

For more information, visit https://www.visitchampaignohio.com/pumpkin-walk-2023.html.

Horse Show Fundraiser

Autumn Trails Stable Equine-Assisted Services Center will host its seventh annual Duke Memorial Student Horse Show Fundraiser on Saturday starting at 9 a.m., with awards at noon, at 2000 Fold Ream Road.

The Duke Memorial Student Horse Show is the biggest fundraiser that ATS holds every year and is the foundation for the opportunities that they provide their participants.

ATS has a goal of raising $20,000, with all proceeds going to the Adaptive Horsemanship and Equine-Assisted Learning programs as well as the program for veterans and first responders. With these funds, ATS will be able to provide as many as 160 lessons.

ATS will also have concessions, t-shirt sales, raffles and more. Individuals or businesses who would like to support the participants of ATS can become Class Sponsors. For more information on that, visit www.autumntrailsstable.com/dmhs.

For more information, visit the Facebook page www.facebook.com/autumntrailsstable, where the raffle will also be extended through the following week for those who cannot make it. If it rains, the event will have to be canceled.

Urbana Library Activities

The Champaign County Library will host activities this weekend:

Build an entry for the LEGO contest with library LEGOS for all ages from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday at the main library, and anytime during business hours at the North Lewisburg Branch Library.

Drop In Halloween Crafts will be held from 10 to 11 a.m. on Saturday at the main library and from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the North Lewisburg Branch for kids and teens.

Halloween Family Story Time will be held at 6 p.m. on Monday at the main library. Registration is required.

Art Museum Exhibit

The Springfield Museum of Art will host the 77th Annual Juried Members’ Exhibition through Sunday. Featuring more than 100 member sites, this year’s exhibition includes 134 works juried by Ramona Bronkar Bannayan, former senior deputy director of Exhibitions and Collections at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).

Sanctuary Series

The fifteenth season of the Sanctuary Series at High Street United Methodist Church, 230 E. High St., will continue Sunday with World House Choir. Following each show, attendees are invited to attend a meet-the-artist reception.

Admission is free but donations are encouraged. For more information, call 937-322-2527 or visit www.highstreetunited.org or www.facebook.com/highstreetunited/.

Operation Babylift

Ray Snedegar will present a program on “Operation Babylift in Vietnam” at 2 p.m. on Sunday at the Champaign County Historical Museum, 809 E. Lawn Ave.

Operation Babylift was the name given to the mass evacuation of children from South Vietnam to the United States and other western countries at the end of the Vietnam War from April 3-26, 1975.

Snedegar, who was a loadmaster in the U.S. Air Force, was assigned to help with the mission. The first chartered Pan Am plane took off with 310 people on board. Under attack, about 14 minutes into the flight, the plane malfunctioned and crashed. Snedegar helped evacuate 145 babies and 12 adults from the plane crash. The remaining passengers died in the crash, including 78 children.

Open House

There will be a special open house on Monday at 7 p.m. at the Heritage Center for the new temporary exhibit that looks at the history of amateur (or “HAM”) radio.

Members of the Clark County Amateur Radio Association (CLARA) will be on hand to talk with visitors about the exhibit and how to get into HAM radio.

The exhibit features different radio equipment, including a reproduction Spark Gap Transmitter on loan from the Westcott House, like one that John Westcott, an early amateur radio operator, would have used.

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