A little rain didn’t stop kids and their families from having a great time at Harvest Fest on Saturday, Oct. 13. Children crawled through a box maze, painted pumpkins, rolled around in corn looking for prizes and much more. The annual event is a joint effort of volunteers from Hope Full Life Center and Abounding Love Christian Fellowship.
Despite wet, brisk weather several hundred people still attended Harvest Fest to take advantage of more than 15 activities, including a bounce house, caramel apple making, karaoke, and lots of carnival games. Adding to the fun were demonstrations by magician Doug Eash and Dean Davis, Ravena’s own reptile expert and educator. Actors dressed as minions also made guest appearances to delight kids.
All of these activities were free thanks to generous businesses all over the area, including Boehm Farm, Crossroads Ford, Crystal Clear Finances, Persico Oil, Capital District YMCA - Greene County Branch, The Mac-Haydn Theatre, Ravena Shop n Save, National Bank of Coxsackie, Universal Car Wash and many others. We thank each and every one of them.
On behalf of the boards, staff and volunteers of Hope Full Life Center and Abounding Love Christian Fellowship, we also want to the thank the following organizations/people for helping us with Harvest Fest:
- The volunteers of Ravena Fire Department who have faithfully managed the concession stand at Harvest Fest since 2013.
- Morning Show Host Joe Hunter from Sound of Life Radio played awesome music that set the right tone for the event.
- STARS Intergen Executive Director Linda Bruno helped run games.
- Ravena Branch Manager Pam Garrison from The Bank of Greene County ran a game for us after working all morning.
- F&M Farms provided us with a tractor, wagon, hay bales and corn for the corn dig.
- Farmer Jon brought Ladybug the Goat for kids to enjoy.
- Graphic designer Kathi Sewak prepared our flyer and digital marketing materials for the event.
- Our volunteers. More than 50 volunteers from Hope Full Life Center and Abounding Love Christian Fellowship planned and staffed Harvest Fest.
It takes many, many hands to make festivals like Harvest Fest a success. We are blessed to live and work in such an awesome community, which is why we host Harvest Fest to begin with.