Hampton Pints in the Park wraps up successful 1st season

Hampton closed out September with a TGIF for the ages.

Community members were treated to the township’s final Pints in the Park, a new event for this year that drew plenty of enthusiasm from those who attended.

And around the corner at Fridley Field, Hampton High School’s Homecoming festivities turned out to be crowd pleasers despite a close loss by the football team.

Pints in the Park, held Sept. 29 in the Community Center parking lot, featured the finest in food-truck cuisine, along with other vendors, entertainment and, of course, beverages for the 21-plus crowd from Strange Roots Experimental Ales.

Wowing the crowd, especially the youngsters, was O’Ryan the O’Mazing, standing 10 feet tall atop of stilts and doing some of the craziest juggling tricks you can imagine, as he boasts on his website.

For everyone’s listening pleasure, the two-man band Missing Link — Rick Phillips on bass guitar and Michael Vasey on guitars and electronic percussion — performed favorites from the rock music era, highlighted for at least one fan by a scintillating version of the Grateful Dead’s “Fire On the Mountain.”

The township plans more community activities this month, including the annual Halloween event from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Oct. 21 in Hampton Community Park. A costume contest for children 10 and younger is featured, along with candy, cookies and other treats.

A pumpkin-carving contest in welcomes pumpkins of all shapes and sizes, as long as they are genuine gourds. All entries must be already carved or painted prior to being dropped off outside of the Community Center.

Judging will take place Oct. 20. Register at hampton-pa.org/331/Pumpkin-Carving-Contest.