We are all seeing the telltale signs of fall: colored leaves, brisk evenings, shaved cornfields, and pumpkin flavored everything. At Shaver’s Creek, the signs of the impending Fall Harvest Festival are appearing like the leaves in your yard. As the large orange pumpkin signs at the end of Charter Oak Road and other spots around State College and Huntingdon indicate, we are celebrating the 2014 Fall Harvest Festival (featuring the Children’s Halloween Trail) on Saturday, October 18 and Sunday, October 19!
The theme of the 2014 Children’s Halloween Trail is “plants and animals have amazing stories to tell.” Every year, students from RPTM 325 (Principles of Environmental Interpretation) plan a series of interactive, non-scary stations featuring fun and funny characters. Topics in the past have ranged from bats to spiders to hog-nosed snakes to insects and how they connect with Halloween.
To prepare for this event, my fellow interns and I have been working hard to ensure that everything is accomplished. Colleen and Kelly are busy planning a front yard’s-worth of fun games and activities to entertain folks of all ages. Ben and Jake strapped on their working boots and began constructing the castle gate (complete with drawbridge!) that opens into the Children’s Halloween Trail. Travis and I have been getting in touch with past volunteers for important jobs like Zero Waste Czars, and entertainers to create a fun and musical atmosphere. We want to create a festival that keeps up traditions while providing something new for all you folks who return every year.
We hope you can join us this year! Entry into the festival itself is free, and to purchase tickets for the main event — the Children’s Halloween Trail — give us a call at (814) 863- 2000.
We’re also looking for volunteers for our annual Pumpkin Carving Night, which takes place Thursday, October 16. We plan on carving a few hundred pumpkins to decorate the trails with, and it’s a night of great fun! If you or your group is interested in volunteering, preregistration is appreciated by calling us at (814) 863-2000.
We can’t wait for another fun festival!
—photos from last year’s Fall Harvest Fest by Justin Raymond and Brian Sedgwick.