Summer has come and gone at Fort Steele Heritage Village and now the busy historic attraction is gearing up for fall with the Kootenay Country Fair taking place this weekend and several more events to follow later in the season.

The popular fall fair, which has been running for 33 years, takes place Sunday Sept. 12 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and hundreds of participants are expected.

There’s a little bit of everything in the Kootenay Country Fair this year including the usual displays of local garden produce, cut-flowers, baking, arts and crafts. But there are also some unusual categories too like smocking, home-made birdhouses, scarecrows, masks, story writing, pillow-sewing and more.

And it won’t cost an arm and a leg either because Fort Steele is waiving its usual gate fee and admission to the fair is a modest $4 for adults, $3 for seniors, $12 for families and children under six are free.

In addition to all the garden and baking exhibits, there will be lots of other entertainment at the fair including wagon rides, a petting zoo, children’s games, an auction, musical entertainers, face painting and commercial exhibits. It will also be the last weekend of operations for the famous Fort Steele steam train.

Admission hours at Fort Steele have now reverted to 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. with the “Johnny-on-the-Spot” restaurant operating the same hours in the Visitor Reception Centre and providing delicious lunch and baking items all day.

Fort Steele’s next major event after the Kootenay Country Fair will be the annual Thanksgiving Celebration Oct 10 featuring the potato harvest, free traditional Thanksgiving food samples at Lambi House and pies auctioned from the Fort Steele Bakery.

There will also be two traditional Thanksgiving dinners with all the trimmings at the International Hotel Restaurant Oct. 9 and 10 where guests can enjoy turkey, fresh field potatoes, garden vegetables, pumpkin pie, apple cobbler and the like.

“Diary of the Dead,” a Fort Steele Murder Mystery Theatre Production, will take place Oct. 22 featuring local actors including students from the Mount Baker Secondary School drama class.

The Murder Mystery Theatre will be followed Oct. 23 by the annual “Halloween Spooktacular,” one of Fort Steele’s most popular events with hundreds of carved pumpkins from the famous pumpkin carving contest, two haunted houses – one friendly and one scary – ghost stories, fireworks, a zombie fashion show, a spectacular bonfire in the middle of the street and other great Halloween entertainment.

The final event of the fall season will be Ghost Tours Oct. 24 to Oct. 31, featuring a lantern lit walking tour of Fort Steele and stories told by professional actors about the “darker side” of the century-old ghost town.

“One of the most common questions we get asked at Fort Steele is were there ghosts,” says Brandy Dunnebacke of the Friends of Fort Steele Society, adding this was the inspiration for the Ghost Stories program. “It should be good.”

Tickets for all of the mentioned events can be obtained from Save-On-Foods, Safeway, the Cranbrook Chamber of Commerce, Black Bear Books and Video or by calling Fort Steele at 417-6000.