ASHFIELD — Gourd things come to those who wait in the town of Ashfield.
The Ashfield Fall Festival will be back from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 10, and Sunday, Oct. 11. The festival, which began in 1970, raises money for the Ashfield Citizens Scholarship & Community Fund.
The biggest change coming to this year’s rendition of the fall classic is the closure of a section of Main Street, which organizers say helps ensure safety, especially for young children participating in the festivities.
“It’s going to be closed from Norton Hill Road to Baptist Corner Road so that more people can flow in, so that it’s safer for the kids running around,” Ashfield Fall Festival organizer Riley Sampson said. “It’ll make it a bigger festival feel, which I’m excited for.”
President of the Ashfield Fall Festival Committee Phil Pless said the games that are run by children and teens are his favorite part of the festival. When each proprietor turns 18, they sell their game materials to the next generation of young businesspeople.
“They’re carnival-type games,” Pless described. “There’s ball tosses, dime tosses, get across the lake, marble mazes, non-permanent tattoos, hair braiding, all run by children under 18, and many of them are 12-to-14-year-olds. I call it Entrepreneurship 101; it’s their first sense of business.”
Among other entertainment, the Pumpkin Games will make their return on Saturday at 1 p.m. Sampson said her favorite game in the series is the pumpkin bowling, which uses zucchini as bowling pins. Sampson added that there’s still an open call for zucchini donations.
Several food options that are staples of the Fall Festival will be available, including kielbasa grinders with fries from the Hilltown Snowmobile Club, cider doughnuts from the Boy Scouts, chili from the Ashfield Rod & Gun Club, blueberry cobbler from St. John’s Episcopal Church, and apple pie with or without cheese at Town Hall. More food can be found at the Congregational Church, Elmer’s Community Center, Ashfield Hardware & Supply, and Community Hall.
Also at Community Hall, which is slightly past the closed section of Main Street near Baptist Corner Road, 16 vendors will line the two floors. According to Nina Coler, president of the Ashfield Community Hall Board, these vendors will be selling a whole host of items, transforming the building into the “East End Vintage Market.”
This market acts as a fundraiser for Community Hall, which is a private nonprofit.
“They’re dealing vintage,” Coler said. “There’s jewelry, furniture, clothing, there’s going to be somebody with honey from local bees. … We’re going to have a hard cider garden, and that’s from Berkshire Cider Project in North Adams. So, a garden out back with wicker furniture, and just a beautiful, quiet respite from all the stuff that’s going on in town.”
Saying that it’s tough “not to empty your pocketbook” once you’re at the East End Vintage Market, Coler said that in the past it’s been difficult to get people to make the short trek from the main festival to Community Hall.
“It’s always been a challenge for us to draw people down the road,” Coler noted. “It’s just a short stroll, a couple of blocks beyond the town common heading down Main Street toward Conway. … It was a big hit last year.”
Jen Smith, chair of the Visual Arts and Crafts Committee for the Ashfield Fall Festival, said 41 juried artists will have their work available for purchase throughout both days of the festival. Seventeen of these exhibitors can be found on the town common, with most located underneath a tent, while the other 24 will be at Town Hall.
Smith and her committee of six artists selected these exhibitors after an application process required those who were interested to send in three to five photos of their work.
“We’ll have a range of artists, from pottery, photography, glassblowers, woodworkers, fine [artists] like water colorists or illustrators who will make art on cards or prints,” Smith explained. “We’ll have hand-printed apparel, handmade bags. We have someone making recycled bird feeders out of recycled wood.”
In addition to vendors and activities, both days of the festival are jam-packed with music. Saturday features the Hilltown Ham Hocks, the Ashfield Community Band and The Brookside Project, with Morris dancers performing the traditional dance at 3:30 p.m.
On Sunday, attendees can enjoy music from Deux Panie, Lui Collins, Adam Morse & Friends, Emerald Rae and Snapdragons. At noon, traditional Irish dancing will come courtesy of Scoil Rince Bréifne Ó Ruairc, an Irish dance school in Pittsfield.
When it comes to getting to the festival, the old Sanderson Academy field and the tennis court lot on Buckland Road will have free parking, with donations appreciated. For $10, parking is available at 29 Baptist Corner Road, 24 Baptist Corner Road and at the Ashfield Community Preschool (103 Baptist Corner Road).
Sampson said that even with all of these activities, vendors, music and food, what keeps bringing people back to the Ashfield Fall Festival year after year is “that community feel.”
“It’s the tradition, I think. It’s a great place for people to come together. For example, me and my family, we don’t always see each other a lot of the time throughout the year; we always come together for this,” Sampson said. “It’s just a familiar, cozy fall experience. There’s so much to see and it’s a nice break from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.”
For more information, visit ashfieldfallfestival.org. A notice from the town on detours due to the road closure can be found at tinyurl.com/5ateznwy.
