‘Everyone gets so much joy’: Ashfield Fall Festival brings tradition and fun

ASHFIELD — Community members banded together once again to bring fall-themed fun to town during the Ashfield Fall Festival over the weekend.

Hundreds of attendees milled about Main Street on Saturday, taking advantage of all the festival had to offer — food, live music, handmade arts and crafts, and of course, the 43rd annual Pumpkin Games.

Competitors of all ages took to the field to try their hands at the relay races, pumpkin bowling and musical pumpkins. At the end of it all, 8-year-old Ayla Dunn-Coleman of Northampton took first place.

“It feels amazing,” Ayla said on her win.

This was Ayla’s second year participating in the Pumpkin Games, and she was over the moon to have won. She said her favorite game was musical pumpkins because so many people participated.

“It was really fun, because almost everyone joined in. It was like a community game,” Ayla said. “I’m proud of everybody that played.”

The pumpkin games were emceed by Ashfield Fire Department member Alan Gabriel, and the Ashfield Firefighters Association sponsored the pumpkins, which participants were allowed to take home after playing.

Fire Chief Kyle Walker said the Pumpkin Games represent “the perfect opportunity” for the association to support a department member and the Ashfield Fall Festival. He added that department members are always happy to show up and make sure everyone has a fun, safe time at the festival.

“This is an amazing event for everybody in town, for both spectators and everybody who comes to enjoy it and sell their wares. We’re happy to support it by making sure it’s safe, but we also love to give back a little bit when people are so generous with our Fire Department,” Walker said. “It’s been a great tradition.”

The festival dates back more than half a century, and many regular attendees have developed their own fall festival traditions.

Sandy Graves said the highlight of the festival each year, for her, has been heading to Town Hall to get some apple pie and cheese. She herself is a pie baker, and she said the pies that are served at the festival are outstanding.

“We have come here for many, many years and this is always what we get: apple pie and cheese,” Graves said.

When asked the secret of a good pie and what makes the Ashfield Fall Festival’s pies so good, she said it’s all in the crust. The pies created for the festival are baked with crusts of different thicknesses and for different amounts of time, so attendees can choose if they prefer a crunchier crust or a chewier one.

“It’s a good crust and a combination of apples,” Graves said. “Some of us like thicker crusts and some of us like thinner ones.”

Across the way on the First Congregational Church of Ashfield’s lawn, Vic Dravel and other volunteers sold an assortment of treats baked by parishioners. Dravel said it takes a lot of time and volunteers to make all the treats, but it’s become a tradition for the church.

“It’s a huge effort and we start to solicit volunteers two months in advance, but I think everyone gets so much joy from it,” Dravel said. “There’s so much good food to eat, but there’s something so wholesome about having a community bake sale that feels really good. It takes a lot of work, but it’s something that the people who live here and are a part of this community feel so delighted to do.”

Another big tradition at the festival is the homemade games run by Ashfield children. Sawyer Drury, who was running the pirate ring toss game, said running games has become a family tradition.

“I’ve been running this game for two years, but my siblings have been doing it for years,” Drury said. “My older brother used to have the marble run, and then I took it over, and then last year I passed it on to my friends. And my sister used to have this game and last year, she gave it to me.”

Linda Davis-Delano has been playing with the Ashfield Town Band for a few years and said that while she comes back each year because she loves music, the Ashfield Fall Festival is special.

“The atmosphere here is amazing. There is so much energy,” Davis-Delano said. “Kicking off with those Pumpkin Games, leading into us playing, it’s a lot of fun. I love it.”