Fall der All – 2024

What is Fall der All?

Fall Der All – 2024 is happening on October 12, 2024 from 10AM to 4PM.  As a newer resident of Van Alstyne, I’ve been wondering,What is Fall der All?” and “Is it spelled with hyphens or no hyphens?”  I started looking and researching to find out the answers.  I hope you enjoy learning all about Fall der All (yes, the original spelling is without hyphens).

In 2012, Van Alstyne held it’s 1st Fall der All and it was originally called The Great Big Van Alstyne Fall der All according to the Van Alstyne Leader.  The Van Alstyne Chamber of Commerce ran the event for the city.  The definition of Fall der All is a take off on the word falderal, which means mere nonsense, festive talk or ideas, absurdity and nonsensical activity.

History of Fall der All

The 1st Fall der All happened on October 20, 2012 from 9AM to 6PM.  The Friends of the Van Alstyne Library hosted a breakfast from 7AM to 11AM at the Community Center.  For $4 you could eat pancakes, sausage, biscuits and gravy, scrambled eggs, juice, and coffee.

There was a community parade, called “Scarecrows on Parade”.  The parade featured anything that was primarily  “scarecrowfied” and included people, pets, vehicles, and floats according to the Van Alstyne Leader.  

There were arts, crafts, handmade and vendor sales, according to the Van Alstyne Leader.  They had charitable organizations with booths, a car show, haunted house, children’s area, puppet show, historic demonstrations like blacksmithing, food, shopping, entertainment and a chili-cook off.  They also had a CASI (Terlingua) chili cook-off, two stages of entertainment, North Texas T-Trak Modular Railroad Club trains, and Grayson Hills Winery.  The Fall der All car show featured celebrity Christopher Womack, CEO of award-winning CW Restoration.  Christopher Womack was featured on multiple television shows. 

The party didn’t stop at 6PM though, they had a free concert at 6:30PM featuring the Maylee Thomas Band playing on the Main Stage at Marshall and Main.

The Van Alstyne Chamber of Commerce wanted to bring back the fun to downtown Van Alstyne.  Residents missed having activities, entertainment and fun.  The Chamber also had a great goal than community entertainment.  They offered free booth space to local charities to help them raise funds for their worthy causes, according to the Van Alstyne Leader.

The Van Alstyne ISD Band Booster partnered with the Van Alstyne Chamber of Commerce to create a spooky/scary Haunted House which was introduced during Fall Der All on October 20th.  It was located in the old feed store on Preston & Marshall and was open from dusk to 11PM.  They also had the Haunted House open on 3 other days in October and admission was $5 a person.

Original Fall der All Marketing
Photo Credit from Lifestyles by Allen Rich from October 24, 2012 (click photo go to the website for the original photo & more pictures)

Van Alstyne Scarecrows

There also was a scarecrow “pageant” during Fall der All.  The residents in the City of Van Alstyne had a wonderful tradition called the Van Alstyne Scarecrows.  Residents and business would make scarecrows to put out in front of their homes or businesses.  The Facebook page, Scarecrows Around Van Alstyne started in 2011.   It was as popular as driving around looking at Christmas lights, except people would drive around and look at scarecrows.

Photo Credit: Scarecrows of Van Alstyne Facebook Page (click image to go to Facebook Page)

The City of Van Alstyne had a scarecrow contest in 2012 and the contest winners were announced on-stage during the 1st Fall der All.  They had free community workshops to help share ideas and information on how to construct scarecrows.  The workshops were for beginners to advanced.  The community took pride in their scarecrows and in 2013 the Van Alstyne Scarecrows were recognized on the TV Show: Good Morning Texas.

Fall der All - 2024

The 2024 Fall der All will be happening on October 12th from 10AM to 4PM.  This FREE family-friendly event will feature 100 unique vendors, food trucks, music and entertainment.  There will be lots for the kids to do this year with free carnival rides including a train ride, ballistic swings, kiddie Ferris wheel and the new dragon wagon roller coaster!

You’ll want to stick around and head over to the Central Social District Park as the 2024 Fall der All continues on the tradition of a FREE concert which will kick-off at 5PM featuring country music superstar, Tracy Byrd.

Fall dr All - 2024

I’m looking forward to this year’s Fall der All!  I went to my 1st one in 2022 and it was such a fantastic community event!  Last year, 2023, the City of Van Alstyne celebrated it’s 150th Birthday and had a huge birthday bash instead of Fall der All.

Fall der All 2024 is presented by Van Alstyne Parks and Recreation, Performance Roofing and Painting. Other sponsors include Texas Bank of VA, ADON Complete Heating and Air, Bill Benton Real Estate and Insurance, Mantua a Risland Development, Brother Plumber, Piazza Construction, Murley Plumbing, Tenders Smokehouse, and Lindsay Byers Farmers Insurance.

Casey Daniels Band Concert

Casey Daniels Bank will be playing at Fall der All from 12PM to 2PM on Marshal Street.

Fall der All Map
Fall der All - List of Vendors
Fall der All information

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