Why Harvest Festivals are Great Fun for Families

Celebrating the harvest is a tradition that probably began as soon as humans began growing their own food. Today, these joyous festivals hailing the local crop are a good reason for families to travel in the fall. Most are held on weekends, handy for a getaway with the kids.

Crisp juicy apples are the taste of autumn, and a natural for festivals. They are front and center at the National Apple Harvest Festival, now in its 56^th year in Adams County, Pennsylvania. Often listed as one of the best fall festivals, apple-centric festivities fill the first two weekends of October with live music, crafts demonstrations, pony rides, antique cars and steam engines, orchard tours, and apple treats ranging from apple pies and pastries to apple guacamole.

The harvest in Carpinteria, California, spotlights a more traditional guacamole at California Avocado Festival (Avofest), Oct. 4–6. The state’s largest free festival, Avofest celebrates the local harvest with 60 live musical performances across four stages, and everything avocado —  including ice cream. There’s no chance they’ll run out of avocados—  a single tree can produce up to 500 of them in a year.

Sample cranberry funnel cakes at the world’s largest cranberry festival in Warrens, Wisconsin, Sept. 27–29. Warrens Cranberry Festival kicks off the local cranberry harvest, and you can tour the cranberry marsh to see them growing. Three miles of vendors and dining offer foods, antiques, crafts and local artisanal food products; kids will want to try the cranberry kettle corn.

While pumpkin festivals are a common fall feature, most of them are spectator events centered around displays of Jack-O-lanterns, whose numbers have reached Guinness World Record status. But the West Virginia Pumpkin Festival in Milton, held Oct. 4–6, began as a real harvest gathering to promote the local crop and help farmers raise and sell pumpkins. Competitions reward the biggest pumpkin and the best pumpkin goodies, and activities include a parade and living history demonstrations.

Maybe not so much to the kids’ tastes, the Connecticut Garlic and Harvest Festival fills the Bethlehem fairgrounds for the weekend of Oct. 12–13. Learn how to grow and cook with garlic and sample garlic-enhanced foods — even ice cream.