Celebrate the Autumn season with the Harvest Festival in Downtown Pittsfield on Saturday, October 14th, 2017 from 9 am to 1 pm! Bring the family to The Common on First Street and enjoy the sights and sounds of the Downtown Pittsfield Farmers Market plus free activities for the whole family to celebrate the harvest and the close of the outdoor market season.
“Fall is one of my favorite times at the market… It is a time to celebrate the local harvest and the farmers who have been feeding us all season long. Our Harvest Fest will have loads of free activities for the whole family (from yoga to pumpkin painting), live music all day and delicious food to remind you what it’s all about!” Jessica Vecchia (Director, Alchemy Initiative).
The Office of Cultural Development and the Downtown Pittsfield Farmers Market teamed up for the first-time last year to develop the Harvest Festival as an alternative to the October 3rd Thursday. You can expect to find many of the traditional 3rd Thursday activities at the Harvest Festival on October 14th, including The Roaming Railroad which will be giving free rides to all attendees. Children are encouraged to dress up in their Halloween costumes, and event sponsor Greylock Federal Credit Union will have a giveaway for each participant in costume. There will also be live music all day. From 9 am to 11 am enjoy the jazz duo, Banulis & Miller, and from 11 am to 1 pm rock for peace with The Hoping Machine.
Additional family activities include: free pumpkin painting (while supplies last) with Head Start, “Future Farmer” selfie photo booth, activities from the Berkshire Museum, free fitness and yoga classes with Berkshire Yoga Dance & Fitness, and the Berkshire Running Center will lead a group run starting at 11 am at the market.
There will also be a meet and greet with Dan Sadlowski, author of the children’s book “Finding Brooklyn – And The Next Great Superhero”.
For the adults, there will be a live cooking demo with chef Anna Gershenson and her sous chefs, Mayor Linda M. Tyer and Jeff Bellows, VP of Corporate Citizenship at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. There will also be tours of the newly renovated Zion Lutheran Church of Pittsfield and representatives from Curves for Women Fitness and New Life Chiropractic.
“The Thanksgiving Angels”, students from Miss Hall’s School, will be on hand raising money for schools affected by recent natural disasters.
The following farmers and food producers will also be featured at the October 14th Harvest Festival and Farmers Market: Assembly Coffee Roasters, Balderdash Cellars, Four Corners Farm, Green Meads Farm Herbals, Holiday Brook Farm, Mountain Girl Farm, Olsen Farm, Smokey Divas with their 92nd Sauce, Square Roots Farm, Taft Farms, Trusted Roots Farm, Tyler and Pine (the debut of their bakery, projected to open in December), Uprising Farm, White Goose Gardens, Windy Ridge Farm, and artisan Galleria Cecilia.
“The Downtown Pittsfield Farmers Market provides a venue for local farmers, food producers, and artisans to bring fresh, locally-grown and produced food and related products to all members of our community.” The Market is a program of Alchemy Initiative.
By contributor Kimberly Cortes-Gritman
Images courtesy of Downtown Pittsfield Farmers Market (Jessica Vecchia and Regina Burgio)