Walnutport Canal in Walnutport will be a busy place this coming weekend, with Saturday having several events, including the 11th Annual Towpath Trot, Scary Cinematic Saturday and towpath hayrides. Sunday will be the big day with the 31st annual Walnutport Canal Festival from noon to 6 p.m. on Oct. 21.

Familiar faces and displays and plenty of new ones will be at this Sunday's Walnutport Canal Festival.Returning will be Larry Hillborn with displays of antiques, Jacobsburg Historical Society with a display of rifles, the ever popular Ed Yandrisovitz with his snakes, Y Knot Alpacas and the Lehigh Valley Zoo with the Birds of Prey. There will be slate cutting demonstrations, live entertainment, including the Northern Legion High School Theater Group performing porch shows every half-hour at 429 S. Canal Street, plus historic displays. Abe Lincoln will also be attending. There will be canoe rides, casting contest, live animals, including Clydesdale horses, pot belly pigs and more. The Locktenders House will also be open for tours.A new feature this year is The Wash House, a display of antique washers and related items by Joan and Bob Green, Metro Leshak with a pictorial display of the raising of the Canal Boat 249 from a quarry in Northampton at the Tri Boro Rod and Gun Club and Constance Andrews will be demonstrating her talent of Scherenschnitte (paper cutting).Fourteen local civic and church groups will help with the Canal Association feed visitors with such favorites as haluski, halupkies, hot dogs, hamburgers, soup and much more.There will be a basket auction at the canal pavilion. You need not be present to win.Everett Kaul, president of the Walnutport Canal Association, said the Walnutport Canal Festival is in its 31st year. While the first 15 were small, the event has grown to encompass Canal Street and most of Lehigh Street, from the Locktenders House south.Major sponsors of the Festival are the Lehigh Valley Regional Council of the D&L Trail Alliance and the Greater Lehigh Valley Chamber of Commerce Foundation.To start off this weekend activities, on Saturday, Oct. 20, there will be a 6K Walk and Fun Run at 9 a.m. and at 9:30 a.m. the Towpath Trot 6K Run will take place for serious and not-so-serious walkers and runners. This is a great way to see the scenic fall foliage while walking/running on a flat gravel towpath. Registration is at 8 a.m. For information email

janetS63@gmail.com. There are age categories from 19 and under to 60 and over.Greg Soltis, organizer, said that approximately 65 people took part in the event last year and is hoping that more people take part in the event this year."Normally, at about 22 minutes the first of the runners is back," he said.Participants have come to know this event as having the best "runners" food events as they offer homemade soup, bagels, doughnuts and coffee to participants.Saturday's events continue later in the day with a Scary Cinematic Saturday with a series of spooky movies starting at 4 p.m. and continuing until 10 p.m. There is no cost to attend the movies, but children must be accompanied by an adult. The Walnutport Canal Park kitchen will be open and there will be hayrides along the towpath.Soltis said there will be two paths for the hayrides, one going north and another going south, with added scary attractions on the south trail and the north trail with no haunts for those with younger children.Among the movies being shown will be "Monster House" rated PG; "Tall Tails and Legends - The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," rated NR; and "Halloween H20: Twenty Years Later," with Jamie Lee Curtis, rated R because of terror/violence/gore and language.