It’s hard to tell whether our small town fall festivals are corny or charming. Probably both — along with lively, fun, entertaining, educational, silly and quaint. All in all, they represent the result of much hard work by some of the most civic-minded people you’d care to meet.
Some fairs, like the Conway Festival of the Hills held last weekend, or neighboring the Ashfield Fall Festival, which is this weekend, go back decades and have generations of loyal followers. And there are relatively newer entries that nonetheless have grown their own large, faithful audiences, like the “scent-sational” 18-year-old North Quabbin Garlic and Arts Festival and Scarecrows in the Park later this month in Bernardston.
New England’s fall festivals find their roots back in the 17th-century home harvest festivals, a tradition carried over from England to celebrate an abundant harvest ahead of a bleak winter. Autumn has always been a special time in New England because of the rural beauty bestowed on our landscape by the changing foliage, marking the change of seasons.
There may not be as many harvesters at work, but today many of our towns still make time to celebrate the beauty of crisp fall days, the taste of a crisp McIntosh apple and the warmth of neighbors. Franklin County has always been a place of deep agricultural roots, and those roots seem to be spreading in recent years as more people care about eating food grown close to home and as a new generation of farmers caters to that demand.
At our fall festivals, newer residents who may hail from the suburbanized former potato fields of Long Island and families who have farmed here centuries mix and mingle.
Each festival takes pride in its uniqueness.
The Garlic Festival in September, like the other festivals, offers a wide range of popular local music, foods and entertainment, but can nonetheless get downright goofy with garlic games, including the famous raw garlic-eating contest. You can find all things garlic, including garlic ice cream.
Later in the season, in Conway, it’s about log splitting and skillet tossing. Some who have made Franklin County their home and raised their children here show us how to make cider or show off their sculptures, paintings, weavings and woodwork.
Ashfield, at peak foliage time on Columbus Day weekend, proudly touts its traditional pumpkin games that include pumpkin tosses, relay races, bowling and other competitions. The festival also include Giant Pumpkin and Tallest Sunflower contests.
And there are many other smaller festivals that each exude their unique charms. This year we saw some potato festivals in southern Franklin County, where the tuber has been grown commercially for generations.
Take your pick. You can’t go wrong. Better yet, to really immerse yourself in the best that our towns have to offer, immerse yourself in the communities that celebrate and are celebrated by these festivals. Join the newcomers and natives who organize these community events, and really get to know your neighbors.