BY STEPHEN YOUNATAN
Springridge Farm is hosting their annual Harvest Festival this fall. The Harvest Festival is held until Oct 28. The festival is meant to be for families, however, everyone is welcome to the farm.
Admission into the Harvest Festival is $13 for all ages. There is no charge to visit the farm market, bakery and gift shop. Some of the attractions at the farm include professional puppet shows, a wagon ride to the 5-acre corn trail and access to the fun farmyard.
Donna Howie, an employee who works at Springridge Farm shares the aim of the Harvest Festival. “The Harvest festival is a celebration of the farm and this time of year,” Howie explains.
This is a very important and very busy time of year for the farm where many families come to the farm to celebrate Thanksgiving. “We celebrate pumpkins, we celebrate Halloween and Thanksgiving and we just try to make it a nice time for families to get together,” Howie says.
The Harvest Festival gives kids a chance to enjoy various activities during Thanksgiving including pumpkin picking, feeding animals and playing on slides. Howie says one of the most popular attractions is the live puppet show. “We have a live puppet show with a professional puppeteer who does about five shows a day. He comes from Port Dover with his wife and they do an excellent show for the children,” she says. Another attraction is was the Boo Barn. “We have a Boo Barn which is all decked up for Halloween with black lights that glow in the dark. The kids really love that, they all go through it at least once.” Finally, an attraction for all ages would be the 5-acre Corn Trail. “It is a wagon ride up to the 5-acre Corn Trail and the people walk through the trail. It takes about 15 minutes for the outing and the walk.”
There’s a lot for adults to do as well such as enjoy the farm, go to the gift shop and the bakery. Springridge is famous for making their own pies from the fruit they harvest at the farm. They are also famous for their freshly made apple cider. “Pumpkin and apple pies are very popular,” according to Howie. Every weekend there is a barbecue and $5 pony rides which make for a very busy weekend on the farm. Howie exclaimed that her favourite thing about the Harvest Festival is the atmosphere. “Just the excitement of the crowd and everybody’s so happy and friendly and it’s just exciting.” The Harvest Festival attracts a lot of people every weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving with their loved ones and provide entertainment and food for all.
The Harvest Festival is home to many different activities and events for all ages. Springridge Farms is open daily from 9 to 5. For more information about the Harvest Festival and Springridge Farm visit their website.