HOULTON, Maine – The traditional Harvest Festival in Houlton’s historic downtown square on Saturday drew farmers, families and especially kids hoping to paint two, maybe three pumpkins, despite the weather being much too warm for an actual harvest.
The annual event started 11 years ago as a fundraiser for the town’s Riverfront Committee but was handed over to the town’s farmer’s market several years ago.
“The Market renamed it Harvest Festival and made it more kid and family centered,” said Jane Torres, executive director of the Greater Houlton Chamber of Commerce. “It has become a celebration of the fall harvest.”
It might have been a summer balmy 80-degrees Fahrenheit, but promises of fall were everywhere on Saturday. Cornstalks were propped up against nearly every shade of pumpkin – large, small, round and oval – and baskets and pots of fall-colored mums dotted booths and walkways.
Two Littleton sisters, Annalise, 12, and Brenna, 6, Schwalbert and Hodgdon friend Clair Coker, 11, were steeped in dark blue paint and loads of glitter as their pumpkin canvases took shape.
The girls said they were still deciding on what to paint next as they wrapped up their second or third pumpkins.
Maine SNAP educator Jennie Schools used a fresh pumpkin from Gallifreyan Farm in Linneus to make pumpkin mini muffins for sampling at the fest as part of her power of produce program. And she even toasted the pumpkin seeds for tasting, to show how various fresh vegetables and fruits can be used for healthy eating.
Kids were especially drawn to Schools’ movement wheel that they could spin for various activities.
Nancy Wright, who owns Wright Brothers Farm in Littleton, was at the festival with her grandchildren and the pumpkins they grew, donating about 70 to the kids’ pumpkin painting activities.
Torres said that the festival was well attended and lots of fun.
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