Here are some of this month's (October)
highlights (Please verify before heading out - most events are "on"
but it is wise to double-check):
Jonesboro, Tennessee is the state's oldest community. The first
weekend in October it becomes the host of the premier event in storytelling
- the National Storytelling Festival, October 7-9. This three day
event showcases storytellers, stories and traditions from across
the country and around the world. Info: (800) 525-4514.
October is time for Oktoberfest. This fall traditional celebration
of German culture may be found in a number of places around America:
Hermann, MO - Oct. 8-9;15-16; 22-23;29-30; St. Charles, MO -
Oct. 8-9; Seymour, Indiana - Oct. 7-9-(812) 523-1414; Fredericksburg,
TX; (830) 997-4810.
It's apple harvest time. In Gettysburg, PA they're staging
the annual Apple Harvest Festival, October 7-8. The event includes
tours of orchards, apple-butter boiling and an antique cider press.
Info: (717) 334-6274...Nearby at Franklin, PA, the Applesfest is
held on October 7-9. It features over 350 arts and crafts vendors
and all kinds of apple deserts. Info: (888) 547-2377......In Weston,
MO the Applefest, October 7-8, you can process apple cider and learn
to make apple butter. Info: (816) 640-2909....And in Coshocton,
Ohio on October 21-23 it's the annual Apple Butter Stirrin' Festival
at Historic Roscoe Village. This event, over 40 years old, features
pie-baking, hog-calling,. corn-husking and spelling bee contests
as well as apple stirring and other traditional fall harvest activities.
Info: (800) 877-1830.
Apples are not the only harvest food of the season. There
are a couple of communities that are serving up seafood this month
as well. For example, the North Carolina Seafood Festival offers
up seafood ranging from Down East chowder to sea urchin on a stick.
There is also live entertainment and more. Info: (252) 726-6273....Bridge
City, LA celebrates its annual Gumbo Day, October 14-16. This event
promotes Cajun-French culture and features continuous Cajun entertainment,
as well as gumbo for all comers. There is also a gumbo cooking contest.
Info: (504) 436-4172....Going back to chowder, closer to its New
England home can be found a Chowderfest to be held at the Mystic
Seaport on October 7-9. Info: (860) 572-5315 or (888) 9SEAPORT.
The harvest on Nantucket Island is over cranberries at the Cranberry
Harvest Weekend, October 14-16. There are tours of the bogs, cooking
contests, a marketplace, crafts, and great ambiance and scenery.
Info: (508) 228-1700.
Harvest as it was in days gone by will be marked at Conner Prairie's
Agricultural Fair Weekend, Fishers, IN - October 7-9. Visitors will
experience farming from the 1800's to today. Festivities offer exhibits
of heirloom vegetables and flowers, livestock and textiles, hands-on
activities and demonstrations. Visitors may observe, take part or
just reminisce about various aspects of historic and modern farming.
Info: (317) 776-6000.
Fall in Springs, Pennsylvania means the Springs Folk Festival, October
7-8. Over 140 craftspersons bring life to times past as they recreate
work skills of earlier times. There are hayrides for kids, as well
as entertainment, and a highlight - Pennsylvania Dutch foods such
as sausage dinners and funnel cakes. Info: (814) 662-2051 or (814)
662-4158.
The South is famous for its Spring Pilgrimages in which
private properties and their interiors are opened to the public.
But there are Fall Pilgrimages as well. .One example is the Natchitoches
Pilgrimage, October 10-November 5. Here one can tour homes in the
National Historic Landmark District and plantation homes in Cane
River country. A highlight is a Saturday night candlelight tour.
Info: (318) 352-8072 or (800) 259-1714.
In Virginia, the annual SmithMountain Lake Charity Home Tour features
10 lake homes with special architecture, unique interior decorating,
unusual collexctibles, and interesting landscape design - the only
tour of its kind because each home is accessible by car or boat.
Info:(540) 297-TOUR
Southern grounds tours are also featured in Beaufort, South Carolina
at the Fall Festival of Houses and History, October 28-30 in historic
Beaufort. There are Saturday tours, a candlelight tours and an event
called Kitchens & Cuisine where local chefs create regional
specialties in local kitchens in the Newpoint and Spanish Point
neighborhoods. Info: (843) 524-6334.
The fall classic to most means baseball's World Series. This month
is also the fall classic for the world of wristwrestling. October
15 in Petaluma, California marks the World Wristwrestling Championships.
This nationally recognized event brings together more than 500 entrants
who vie for title of the top wristwrestler Info: (770) 778-1430.
A fall classic in the world of teddy bear collectors takes place
at the Great American Teddy Bear Jamboree Show and Sale, October
14-15 at Bristol, CT. This event brings together teddy bear lovers,
collectors and others to view bears -old and new. There is a teddy
bear hospital and other teddy bear related activities. Info: (860)
583-2562.
In Hannibal, Missouri October means the annual Folklife festival,
October 13-14. This 25th annual event features original folk arts,
crafts, music food and performing arts of the mid to late 1800's.
Info: (573) 221-6545.
A highlight in the Pine Barrens Region of New Jersey is the annual
Pine Barren's Jamboree or October 15 at Wells Mill County Park in
Waretown. This all-day event features a live stage of musicians
from the nearby Albert Music Hall playing country, bluegrass and
traditional music. There is also tree climbing, demonstrations and
other wood activities, regional foods, children's games, canoe rides
and more. Info: (609) 971-3085.
Also in New Jersey, the Lighthouse Festival, October 15-16. Sponsored
by the NJ Lighthouse Society, all 11 of the state's lighthouses
are open for visits and tours. They range from Sandy Hook in the
northeast down through Sea Girt, Long Beach Island, Atlantic City,
Cape May and up[ along ythe Delaware River to Finn's Point and Tinicum.
For a complete list and further details, contact: (973) 328-3615.
You can learn how ancestors prepared and preserved apple butter,
dried fruits, and eggs in the 19th century at the Harvest Days at
the Landis Valley Museum in Pennsylvania, October 8-9. There's Pennsylvamnia
Dutch foods, crafts and blackismith demonstrations. Info: (717)
569-0402.
A
unique seasonal event is unique for its very name. Neewollah is
Halloween spelled backwards. That's what they call the Halloween
event in Independence, Kansas. Activities there include a Broadway
music presentation, carnival, street acts, parade and lots of shirts
and stuff with Halloween misspelled. Info: (800) 882-3606.
Finally, The Museum of Appalachia's Tennesee Fall Homecoming has
been called the most extensive and authenticgathering of old-time
musicians, pioneer-type craftspeople and folk artists in the country.
It features over 250 musicians and hundreds more carftspersons.
It takes place October 13-15 in Norris, Tennessee; Info: (865) 494-7680.
See you in November !
