On Friday, October 30, the Campbell County Family YMCA's Boo Fest takes over the Fort Thomas Mess Hall from 6 to 8:30 p.m. The Mess Hall was built to feed soldiers, and according to its National Register nomination it dates to 1892, when Fort Thomas was an Army post. At 8 p.m. the same evening, the Fort Thomas Recreation Department starts a Halloween dance in the Armory. A short drive up Fort Thomas Avenue, improvisers will be making up a horror movie from audience suggestions in a building the Fort Thomas Woman's Club bought in 1941.
Most of Fort Thomas's late-October calendar takes place in an Army mess hall, an Army armory and a women's clubhouse. The city and its community groups took over those buildings and found new uses for them, and the newer the event, the older the building tends to be.
A former Army post now runs the civic calendar
According to the National Register nomination, Fort Thomas served as the Army's Southern Division headquarters from 1887 to 1940. The post then worked as an Army reception center and local induction center until 1964. After the federal government began handing the base's land and buildings over to the city, Tower Park was incorporated in 1972. The park's namesake Tower, Building 16, went up in 1890 and stands 102 feet tall.
That handoff explains why so much of the city's programming collects at one address. The Mess Hall at 801 Cochran Ave. hosts the Wednesday farmers market, and it is the backdrop for Flea in the Fort, which draws more than 70 local makers. The Fort Thomas Farmers Market still has three October Wednesdays left, October 14, 21 and 28, from 3 to 6 p.m. On October 21, the market is holding goat yoga inside the Mess Hall from 5 to 6 p.m.
On October 30, two days after the last October market, the same building that holds produce stands will hold Boo Fest. The YMCA lists face painting, balloon animals, games, candy and a pumpkin patch for the evening.
The Armory gets a Hocus Pocus dance
Boo Fest is aimed at younger children. The Recreation Department's "Witching Hour at the Tower" dance picks up where it leaves off, inside the Armory on Friday, October 30, starting at 8 p.m., with a Hocus Pocus theme. The city has posted two different end times. Its October 5 announcement says the dance runs until 11 p.m., while the event listing on the city calendar says 10 p.m. If you're coordinating rides home, the earlier time is the safer one to plan around until the city settles it.
With Boo Fest and the dance on the same night, one hour apart, a family can spend a full Friday evening moving between two buildings of the former Army post.
Two Pumpkin Walk nights, run at two different paces
The annual Pumpkin Walk returns with more than 350 hand-carved jack-o'-lanterns, and the city has made the two nights deliberately different.
Thursday, October 29, 6 to 9 p.m. This is the quiet night. The city calls it "a more casual, relaxed walk with no food trucks and limited vendors," and the Campbell County Public Library will be on hand.
Friday, October 30, 6 to 9 p.m. This is the full night. The city is partnering with the YMCA and the Fort Thomas Recreation Department. The lineup includes food trucks, a petting zoo from Penick's Peckers, light displays by Accent on Cincinnati, an Aloha Glow booth, Bevvy Dirty Soda and West Sixth Brewing. The Lions Club is giving out free hot dogs and water, there's free candy, and Marian Sizemore of State Farm Insurance and Lori Greis are sponsoring free costume photos.
Neither the city's announcement nor its calendar listing names the exact spot for the jack-o'-lantern trail, so check with the Recreation Department before you go. Questions about the Friday night go to Savannah at [email protected], according to the city's listing.
The split matters for planning. Thursday is set up for toddlers and anyone who wants to see the carving without a crowd. Friday stacks the Pumpkin Walk, Boo Fest and the Armory dance into one evening.
Up the avenue, a clubhouse that keeps changing hands
Halloween week moves from Tower Park to 8 N. Fort Thomas Ave., and the same pattern holds. The Fort Thomas Woman's Club bought the building in 1941. Village Players has performed on its lower level since 1967, and in 2018 the club gave the property to the theater group. Village Players renamed the renovated building 8 North Center for the Arts in 2019. Its two history pages give different years for when the group started as a Woman's Club subsidiary. One says 1960 and the other says 1966. Both agree it took the Village Players name in 1967.
The building's newest tenant is Improv Northern Kentucky, or INK. As LINK nky reported, INK was incorporated May 28 and held its first event June 18 at Fort Thomas Coffee. It now runs classes, workshops and shows out of 8 North. Co-founders Charley Roetting and Warren Bryson, along with INK Leadership Council members Bethany Pike and Derek Shipman, all went to Northern Kentucky University. LINK nky reports that they had noticed the region's improv scene stayed north of the Ohio River.
"This is a welcoming third space for people of all ages to enjoy," Roetting told LINK nky.
For October, INK is staging MUMPs: The Made-Up Halloween Horror. Eight paid improv performers build an improvised horror film from audience suggestions and classic genre tropes, so each night's story is different. The ticket listing shows the remaining dates as October 22, 23, 29 and 30, all at 7:30 p.m. The October 30 show lands on the same night as the Pumpkin Walk, Boo Fest and the Armory dance. A MUMPs holiday edition, The Made-Up Holiday Classic, follows in December.
Village Players' fall comedy, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, closed October 4. The next mainstage production is Reina Deer and the Humbugs, running December 4 through 13. That gap leaves INK as the only show in the building for the rest of October.
Dinner before the show, in a storefront with a second owner
The one newcomer on the October calendar that isn't a civic event follows the pattern too. Traveler's Table opened for dinner September 4 at 1011 S. Fort Thomas Ave. The space opened in July 2018 as Grassroots & Vine, a specialty-food market and restaurant with small plates, a bottle shop, two full-service bars and a patio. Challis and Lauren Hodge's Taste Food & Wine Group bought Grassroots & Vine in 2025. The group also runs Taste on Elm. Cincinnati Magazine reported that the Hodges closed Conserva, their Spain-inspired wine and tapas bar in Ludlow, to focus on the Fort Thomas concept.
According to LINK nky, the menu moves from country to country. It includes a Gilda pintxo from the Basque Country, an Alsatian flammekueche and a Peruvian ceviche, each with suggested pairings such as fino sherry, Crémant or a pisco sour. "You don't need to be a wine expert or an experienced traveler to enjoy Traveler's Table," Lauren Hodge told the outlet. Traveler's Table serves dinner Tuesday through Thursday from 4 to 9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 4 to 10 p.m. On a Thursday or Friday, that's enough time to eat at 5:30, get to 8 North for INK's 7:30 curtain and finish the night at the Pumpkin Walk.
The rest of October, in order
- Wednesday, October 14, 3 to 6 p.m. Farmers market at the Mess Hall.
- Wednesday, October 21, 3 to 6 p.m. Farmers market, with goat yoga inside the Mess Hall from 5 to 6 p.m.
- Thursday, October 22, 4 p.m. Ribbon cutting for Dermatology Direct at 20 N. Grand Ave., Suite 8. The practice was founded by Fort Thomas native Dr. Jennifer Dempsey Martin. A grand opening follows Friday, October 23, from 5 to 8 p.m.
- October 22 and 23, 7:30 p.m. MUMPs: The Made-Up Halloween Horror at 8 North.
- Saturday, October 24, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Prescription medication and used eyeglasses drop-off at 130 N. Fort Thomas Ave.
- Wednesday, October 28. Final October farmers market, 3 to 6 p.m., and the Halloween House Decorating Contest, 7 to 9 p.m.
- Thursday, October 29. Pumpkin Walk Night 1, 6 to 9 p.m., and MUMPs at 7:30 p.m.
- Friday, October 30. Boo Fest at the Mess Hall, 6 to 8:30 p.m. Pumpkin Walk Night 2, 6 to 9 p.m. MUMPs at 7:30 p.m. "Witching Hour at the Tower" in the Armory from 8 p.m.
- Saturday, October 31, 6 to 8 p.m. Trick-or-treat across Fort Thomas.
The city's announcement says details on the pumpkin carving contest categories, Community Carving Days and Pumpkin Walk volunteer shifts are still to come. Follow the YMCA and the Recreation Department for updates.
At The Julia Wesselkamper Group, we pay attention to how a city looks after its historic buildings, because that care shows up on every street in Fort Thomas. If you own one of the older homes near Tower Park or along Fort Thomas Avenue and want to talk about how its history might be presented to buyers someday, we'd be glad to have that conversation. Contact Us.
