The Harriman-Nielsen Fall Festival is Sunday at the historic farm on the west side of Hampton.
Doreen Petersen is a board member of the Harriman-Nielsen Historic Farm and tells RadioOnTheGo News how the event got started over 20 years ago.
“21 years ago, they decided that they should plant a garden and grow some crop at the farm. We had a space that was available, so they planted a few pumpkins and other types of fall products, and then they had a crop and decided that they would have a fall festival. So the first year, it was just outside the barn, had a few tables with pumpkins sitting up. We didn’t realize that children wanted to go pick their own pumpkin, so we picked all the pumpkins and brought them out onto the tables. Now the kids can go out and gather their pumpkins, just get whatever pumpkin they want to take with them for the day. So then, twenty-one years later, here we are.”
Funds raised from the event will go toward the restoration of the Harriman-Nielsen Historic Farm and Petersen says there are improvements the board would like to take care of at the farm.
“You might have noticed that we had some activity this summer and the house was painted. So it has a fresh coat of paint to welcome everybody to the fall festival. The things we’re looking at right now is while we were painting the house, we discovered we needed to do some shingling work, especially on the porches on the east side of the house. So that’s scheduled with a carpenter when he has the time. And we’re also doing some foundation work on the barn so that it’s a little bit more secure. And so that’s also scheduled.”
Berry Johnson, another board member of the historic farm, says they are looking for volunteers on Saturday from 9:00 a.m. to noon to help pick produce and set up for the event.
There will be activities for all ages with wagon rides, carnival games and pumpkin painting for those attending. The Harriman-Nielsen Fall Festival is Sunday from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.
