Harvest and Halloween
Kenyon's Brown Family Environmental Center celebrates the fall harvest and brings Halloween to life on back-to-back October weekends.
The Fall Harvest Festival is on Saturday, October 23, from 2:00-5:00 p.m. at the center, 9781 Laymon Rd., Gambier. The free event is tailored for the entire family and includes horse-drawn wagon rides, live music, pumpkin decorating, a cider press, children's crafts and games, a bonfire, and a nature photography contest with visitors voting to decide the winners.
"It's about celebrating a beautiful season out-of-doors," said Heather Doherty, environmental center program manager. "It's about family."
The Fall Harvest Festival is followed on Friday, October 29, at 7:00 p.m., by the Halloween Legends Lantern Tour, also at the environmental center. The Legends Tour allows families to explore the center along a one-mile trail where hikers will meet the season's classic characters at stops. The tour features a mix of characters drawing upon literature, nature, and the season, including the legendary creator of the jack-o-lantern, one of our nocturnal owls, and the writer Edgar Allan Poe. After the hike, visitors can listen to seasonal stories around a bonfire.
Tickets for the Halloween Legends Lantern Tour are $5, and children 8-years-old and younger are admitted free. Advanced purchase is recommended, as tickets are limited. Tickets can be purchased at the environmental center; Kenyon College Bookstore, 106 Gaskin Ave., Gambier; and Sips coffee shop, 101 S. Main St., Mount Vernon. The lantern tour is presented by the environmental center, Mount Vernon Players, and Elixir Chautauqua Series.
To learn more about both events, call 740-427-5052 or send an e-mail to dohertyh@kenyon.edu.