Kenan’s Mill will open up for a month full of activities in October starting with the 14th annual Kenan’s Mill Festival Oct. 10.

The annual festival is a family friendly event where the community is invited to take a day to enjoy the outdoors and all the mill has to offer.

“It’s a celebration of rural life and traditions in the Black Belt,” said Sheryl Smedley, executive director of the Selma-Dallas County Chamber of Commerce. “It’s a great location for families because it’s an open area for kids to … have a good time in a safe environment.”

Sponsored by the Selma-Dallas County Historic Preservation Society, the event will feature children’s activities, live music, a tractor-pulled hayride, mill tours, arts and crafts vendors and more.

“It’s the perfect outing, perfect location in the fall,” said Councilman Greg Bjelke, a member of SDCHPS. “It’s a fundraiser for our society because we have so many projects that we want to pay for.”

The Sucarnochee Revue, including Jacky Jack White, J. Burton Fuller and Britt Gully, will be performing their bluegrass style music while people enjoy the various activities going on.

Jim Wood will be demonstrating how to use the 48-inch millstone by making stone-ground cornmeal the visitors can purchase and take home for themselves.

Robert Gordon will be using an old-fashioned screw type press to make homemade apple cider, and Frank and Jewell Williamson will be selling their homemade Brunswick stew.

The Selma Fire Department will be at the festival with a safety jump house for kids to enjoy and there will also be free train rides for the little ones.

Admission is $5 for adults and $2 for children under 12-years-old and tickets can be purchased the day of the event. The festival will be from 9 a.m. until 3 p.m.

Later in the month of October, Kenan’s Mill will host its first ever haunted hayride tours for those looking for a scare.

“It’s going to be a wonderful event. It’s new and I expect it to be a popular annual event,” Bjelke said. “It’s going to be a good suspenseful, fun, jump out of the woods type thing.”

The rides will take participants on a loop throughout the grounds at the mill, including traveling through the woods where Bjelke said there’s no telling what might jump out at them.

Although organizers are discouraging young children from participating, Bjelke said the event isn’t all about gore.

The rides are expected to last between 30 and 40 minutes each and tickets are $5 per person. The nights for the hayrides are Oct. 16, 17, 23, 24, 30 and 31. Gates will open at 6:30 p.m. and the first ride of the night will begin around 7 p.m. Snacks and food will be available.

Bjelke said that anyone who would like to be an actor can call him at 327-5774 for more information about participating. He said actors will be responsible for their own costumes and skits and will have rules that they will have to follow.