Sean C. Morgan
Of The New Era
The city of Sweet Home’s second annual Harvest Festival will be even bigger this year.
It will be held from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Oct. 4 at Sankey Park.
The event is being organized by Edene Flierl and Byron Wolfsong from the Community Development Department.
Everything is free except for goods sold by the 22 vendors expected to participate, and the food booth on Weddle Bridge, although there will be free cotton candy. The Saturday market, along with other fresh produce vendors, also will be held at the event rather than its usual spot at Thriftway.
“Be there or be square,” Flierl said.
“Even if you’re square, be there,” Wolfsong chimed in. “We welcome all geometric shapes.”
“We are putting on a fantastic festival,” Flierl said.
The agenda for the day is long, with free activities for kids of all ages, including adults.
On the list is tree climbing with the help of Pacific Tree Climbing Institute of Eugene, which will be on hand to help children and adults climb trees.
“They’ll also talk about the different things you’ll see up there,” Flierl said.
Horse-drawn hay rides by Chafin Farms will be back, along with the popular pie-eating contest.
“That was the surprise hit (last year),” Wolfsong said.
In that vein, the Harvest Festival will have even more games this year, including a cakewalk and a scarecrow stuffing contest, Flierl said. In the scarecrow event, participants will race around a course stuffing themselves into scarecrow clothing piece by piece.
A fourth game will be an “apple bite” contest, where participants try to eat an apple hanging by a string.
Persephone Farms is providing pumpkins for pumpkin painting. Children are welcome to come and paint pumpkins for free. Last year, the event used more than 200 pumpkins.
Sweet Home Fire and Ambulance District and Sweet Home Police Department will be present along with members of the Sheriff’s Posse, which will bring a couple of horses and provide a talk. Smokey Bear and the U.S. Forest Service also will be on hand. Insurance agent Karyn Hartsook will provide photo-fingerprint ID kits for children and their parents.
Miss Deffy the clown will provide face painting.
The festival has a long list of entertainers, including The Bunch of Harrisburg playing old-time rock ‘n’ roll. Rick and Lavinia Ross will play folk music. Gypsy Circle will belly dance.
High school act Thought of the Day will play contemporary rock music, while the Patio Pickers play old-time country.
A barbershop quartet will travel around the park as it performs.
Based on estimates through-out the day and what supplies the festival used up, Flierl believes that 350 to 400 attended last year.
For further information, contact Flierl or Wolfsong at 367-8113.