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Fall leaves

As the leaves begin changing color and the air outside gets cooler, autumn brings local fall festivities and attractions to the Ozarks. Nixa High School students are finding different ways to spend their time in the fall even with school starting back up.
Sophomore Carter Snyder said he enjoys fall activities and the feelings that go along with it.
“[Fall] is like a warm, cozy season,” Snyder said. “Makes you feel good… I love to go hiking anywhere because [I] like all the colors. I also go on walks around the neighborhood and then obviously the festivals. It’s just nice to see all the colors changing in life.”
There are a few fall festivals in the area, including a festival called Apple Butter Making Days in Mount Vernon.
“There’s this [fall event] I go to,” Snyder said. “It’s the Apple Butter Making Days in Mount Vernon. They have the best root beer stand.”
Some may enjoy group activities during the fall because of the sensation of giving and coming together.
“Me and my friends sometimes have like a picnic or a Thanksgiving feast kind of vibe…,” Snyder said. “We eat food and hang out, that’s pretty fun.”
Trick-or-treating can be a nostalgic experience for high schoolers.
“I’ve been trick-or-treating with my friends for like the past three years,” Snyder said.
Halloween parties and spending quality time with friends tend to be senior Jadyn Morrison-Johnson’s favorite autumn activities.
“[My favorite fall memory] was whenever I had a Halloween party with my friends my freshman year,” Johnson said. “Being at the party was fun.”
Johnson said people tend to want to go out with friends and participate in different seasonal activities during fall.
“People want to go trick or treating, or they want to dress up together, or they want parties, or go to corn mazes or watch scary movies,” Johnson said.
Scary movies can be a popular way to get into the fall spirit.
“[I watch scary movies because] it’s fun to get an adrenaline rush,” Johnson said.
Some people get their fall fun from scary movies or trick or treating, while others get it by going to fall markets.
“Our fall market is our biggest event in the fall,” Carissa Bedford, Mercantile Manager of Cassidy Station at Estes Farms, said. “We have mums for sale, we are doing a trunk or treat for kids on Oct. 24, with a hayride and games.”
Fall festivals can come with a cozy decor aspect that can cause visitors to have a pleasant reaction.
“We like to do a lot of decorating,” Bedford said. “We have all kinds of pumpkins out and our big entry swag when you walked in.”
The Cassidy Station fall market took place on Sept. 28.
“We have 50 vendors and we have food trucks,” Bedford said. “They’ll probably be anywhere from 5,00 to 10,000 people here that day.”