NILES — Free admission and free autumnal activities are slated to start at the Niles-Buchanan YMCA at 905 N. Front St. this month.

From Sunday, Oct. 6 to Saturday, Oct. 12, it will host its Health Week, where it will offer free admission, veggies and a health expo. Two weeks later, on Saturday, Oct. 26, it will partner up with various organizations to host Fall Festival.

Both events will be inside its gymnasium, and both are available to members and non-members.

“To us, it’s important to open our facility to everyone in the community and kind of be a hub where people can come and have fun,” said marketing coordinator Kayla Foster. “Our pillars are youth development, social responsibility and healthy living, so whenever we can host and let everyone come and enjoy the Y in the capacity we can hold here, we like to do that.”

Health Week, the YMCA’s second annual, will allow attendees to enter for free all week long. Only a form of identification is required for entry. Those 15 and under need a parent to sign them in.

All attendees will be able to use the facility just as members would. That includes the YMCA’s fitness equipment, facilities and classes, as well as its daycare program.

“Anything that our members use, these guests will be able to utilize, so they will be able to get the full Y experience,” Foster said.

Last year, the YMCA logged in 500 guests, and it hopes to bring in more next week. The goal, Foster said, is to show guests all of the facility’s amenities and entice some to become members.

Health Week will kick off with a Health and Fitness Expo, led by Andrews University, from noon to 3 p.m. Oct. 6 in the gym. It will feature vendors from across the area who will promote physical, emotional, mental, financial and spiritual health.

“We like to be well-rounded here and cover all those areas, so Andrews’ Health and Fitness Expo really fit,” Foster said.

From 4 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, YMCA of Greater Grand Rapids’ Veggie Van will be parked out front. The fellow YMCA loaned Spectrum Health Lakeland the van, and it will provide free vegetables and health information to those who stop by.

Two weeks after the Veggie Van closes up and free admission ends, the YMCA will provide its second free October event to members and non-members.

Those who attend Fall Festival from 2 to 4 p.m. Oct. 26 will be able to take part in both YMCA-hosted activities and partnering organizations’ activities in its gym.

The YMCA will host games, crafts, a bounce house, healthy snacks, face painting, a photo booth and an obstacle course. It will also provide hay rides from its campus to the nearby Elks Lodge #1322 on Canal Street for trick-or-treating.

The Niles District Library will also have a presence at the YMCA. It will host a costume contest for children 12 and under with gift card prizes.

From 2:30 to 4 p.m., the library will have a costume contest and a photo booth for dogs as part of its Learning Unleashed! series. Both will be outside the YMCA, and a $5 entry fee benefitting the library and the Niles History Center will be required.

After YMCA-based events end at 4 p.m., the city of Niles Main Street DDA’s Downtown Safe Trick-or-Treat will occur. Businesses and organizations will pass out candy from 4 to 5 p.m. around the downtown strip.