Ripe For The Harvest

I love fall. The weather turns colder, frost finally shows up in the mornings, and the leaves turn orange and yellow. At least here in Illinois they do. School starts back up, football returns, and fun fall events get planned. All around me farms that support their whole year open their acreage in autumn to their neighbors with carnival rides and games, pumpkin picking, entertainment, food, and hayrides. Some venues plan for months because they’re only open these few weeks every fall. Year after year, new events and activities get added to the lineup to bring recurring guests back as well as attract new ones. What kinds of events would an event planner find themselves working on in the fall? Let’s take a look.

Fall Festivals – This term covers a wide variety of events with budgets from zero to infinity. They can be simple neighborhood or school gatherings with a few food trucks, inflatables, and face painting. Throw in bobbing for apples and a costume contest and you have the making for some great fun. It can also include city or town-wide festivals with carnival rides and games, BBQ vendors, delicious grilled ears of corn, nightly stage performers, and downtown parades. In the town I live in, we have a Scarecrow Festival where individuals, groups, clubs, and businesses all submit a decorated scarecrow, most often in a full-blown themed scenescape. For a weekend, the entire area descends on this little park to walk around and around the perimeter to judge which scarecrow wins the prize in different categories. We even used to have custom license plates with the scarecrow festival logo on them that we could have on our cars for eight weeks every fall.

Tailgate Parties – With the onslaught of high school, college, and pro football games, there are many tailgate parties to plan. These can be elaborate such as hiring a caterer to grill on-site and offer a magnificent display of meats, potato salads, and desserts. Guests are treated like VIPs before entering the stadium to watch the game, most likely from a corporate suite where they’ll wine and dine some more. The best tailgate parties, in my opinion, are hotdogs and hamburgers on the Weber with Sam’s Club coleslaw and ice cream sandwiches before watching the local hotshot quarterback slaughter the competition while trying to stay warm clasping a cup of coffee on the sidelines of a grassy high school field. 

Halloween Parties – enough said.

Trunk-or-Treats – Some schools and churches offer these events instead of Halloween parties. Here, those who may not celebrate Halloween, those who live in rough neighborhoods, or those who live in rural areas without neighbors can gather and have some fall fun as well. Children have the chance to dress up as their favorite cartoon or superhero character, run around a gym, a parking lot, or school hallways and gather a pail full of candy for themselves. There are often prizes for different costume categories, and floor games like Grand Prize Game, Hopscotch, or even a cake walk.

Craft Fairs – I don’t know about where you live, but here in Illinois, these are HUGE. Every weekend in October you can’t turn around without running into a craft fair at a school or church in the area. These are legit – some even have a cover charge. I know of ladies who plan which craft fairs to “hit” in which order to find the best goods and deals before everyone else. At these fairs, folks who have been working on painted wall plaques and yard decor, crocheted Kleenex box covers and pot holders, and sports-themed and other custom Christmas ornaments set up tables and pray to sell everything they brought. And every home-based business on the planet is available somewhere so you can find a holiday present for every member of your extended family and pick up your Pampered Chef Beer Bread Mix at the same time. Often the sports teams are raising money for something so you can buy cheap hotdogs, flying tacos, or participate in a bake sale. 

And the Farm Events – Farms around me include things like carnival games, live entertainment, hayrides, pumpkin picking, apple picking, food truck festivals, corn mazes, haunted houses, pumpkin tosses, shopping, and apple cider donuts. Don’t forget events like hay bailing, pig racing, and punkin’ chunkin’. There are even special event weekends where certain activities are highlighted or there are discount weekends where larger families can save a few dollars.

There are any number of reasons for people to gather. The world of meetings and events is a trillion dollar industry and as varied as people on the planet. However, there’s something special about fall events, at least for me. I think it’s the drastic change in scenery and weather, and people seem to have a much better attitude than when it’s 100 degrees in the shade with 95% humidity. Just sayin’.

Do you have a favorite fall event? Share it here or send me an email!

Comment below, like this blog, and share it with others you know who enjoy a good pumpkin spiced latte.

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