I love my home­town of May­field, KY. To an out­sider there may not be much to the eye oth­er than a cou­ple mom and pop restau­rants and the chat­ter of the cross town foot­ball team rivals and most recent­ly, the scar on a lit­tle KY town dev­as­tat­ed by an EF4 tor­na­do on Decem­ber 10, 202. I think we can all agree that there real­ly is so much more to the small towns we call home.

Since the dev­as­ta­tion of that night, our com­mu­ni­ty has ral­lied togeth­er like nev­er before. With our his­toric cour­t­house flat­tened and the blue­print of our town bare­ly rec­og­niz­able, it has been refresh­ing to see new and old tra­di­tions being car­ried for­ward regard­less of the geo­graph­i­cal changes. Last year, in Octo­ber of 2022, marked the first ever month long cel­e­bra­tion of Hal­loween. The city of May­field is locat­ed in Graves Coun­ty, KY and local tourism plan­ners have set out on a mis­sion to estab­lish out lit­tle town as a Hal­loween des­ti­na­tion. Insert the “Haunt­ed Graves” project.

While it is still a new con­cept, the locals, as well as myself and my kid­dos have ful­ly embraced the cel­e­bra­tions. An often over­looked hol­i­day, that gets a lot of bad rap still has a lot to offer in the fun depart­ment. From an end­less num­ber of expert­ly dec­o­rat­ed hay bails around town to a glow­ing night time parade there is a lit­tle some­thing for every­one each week­end of the month of October!

SEE A BROCHURE OF EVENTS for Haunted Graves

River Valley Ag Hay Bail Trail

It real­ly is the most unique dis­play of cre­ativ­i­ty through the streets of the city. The boys have enjoyed find­ing new bails through­out the week and snap­ping pic­tures with some of their favorites. Trail maps can be found at the local riv­er Val­ley Ag office. This is just one of the many ongo­ing events and activ­i­ties as part of the Haunt­ed Graves project.

Cartwright Grove Haunted Fall Festival

Cartwright Grove is a local must see! A repli­cat­ed old-time town that holds his­tor­i­cal sig­nif­i­cance to our regions. The own­ers have done an out­stand­ing job of dec­o­rat­ing each build­ing to a tee. Each Hal­loween sea­son they host week­end fes­ti­vals and quick­ly reset their motif to that of an enchant­i­ng Christ­mas vil­lage before Decem­ber! This year we took the kid­dos dressed in their cos­tumes after the annu­al glow­ing Graves Hal­loween Parade. 

Look­ing for a cos­tume idea? Check out this fun DIY Big Bad Wolf Costume/Halloween Mask Makeover

FNB Glowing Halloween Parade

My pic­tures from the parade this year are lim­it­ed. I had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to par­tic­i­pate in this years parade by rep­re­sent­ing our local ani­mal shel­ter. I did hap­pen to snap a cou­ple pics before we start­ed. This year’s parade boast­ed almost 80 busi­ness­es and orga­ni­za­tions rep­re­sent­ed! It is def­i­nite­ly a must-see if you are vis­it­ing in October.

Lis­ten, my friend, I have only list­ed a small frac­tion of the fun events and des­ti­na­tions to vis­it dur­ing Octo­ber. I will strive to recap those events back here and add to this syn­op­sis of events. But for now, take my word for it. Even if you aren’t local I’d like to encour­age you to take some of these ideas back to your own city lead­ers and spread the fun all around! Until then, STAY SPOOKY!

TRY THESE FUN HALLOWEEN DIYs