Fall Harvest Festival

The Village will be open for extended hours so visitors can wander the grounds, interact with our living history interpreters, listen to live music by the Sawmill Run Old Time String Band, and enjoy food from Beastro, which will also have its Signature Drippings available for purchase.

Seasonal Treats – This year’s products include an expanded selection of pies, sauces, spreads, and more available for purchase in our product tent. Click here to view, download, or print the product list.

ACTIVITIES

Accessible wagon rides & Pumpkin picking — Take a scenic wagon ride to the EJOTV field to pick your perfect pumpkin! Choose from a variety of sizes, then pose for a picture against the stunning background of pumpkins, greenery, and open skies.

Photo station — Create your postcard-perfect family photo on our decorated bench upon entrance to the Village.

Nature Prints — Children will be invited to create a fall image using natural objects, fallen leaves, grasses and stems, seed pods, and other safe, naturally fallen plant materials found around the festival grounds. Participants will arrange their chosen materials into an image or pattern. The objects will then be coated with washable, water-based printing ink or paint and pressed onto paper. Each participant will leave with a finished nature print to take home.

Children’s Crafts

Kath Yarkosky (10/16–10/18) — introduction to various fundamental concepts of printmaking and visual art. Children will learn how an image can be transferred from one surface to another and how the textures of leaves, grasses, and other natural materials create different marks. This activity inspires children to feel curious about and connected to the seasonal changes around them, fostering a sense of wonder and appreciation for the natural world as they see how artists draw inspiration from nature.

Tracy Coon – Children’s Crafts (10/16–10/18 and 10/23–10/25) – Make a 3D paper pumpkin! Each child will receive a pre-sorted kit containing eight pre-punched orange paper strips, two metal brads, a piece of string, and a paper stem. Pumpkins can be customized in different colors and with glued-on jack-o’-lantern faces, stems, and leaves. Tracy will also supply a secondary watercolor craft in the autumn theme.

Stark Press (10/23–10/25) – Stark Press will print Harvest-themed tote bags for guests.

Rutgers Cooperative Extension Master Gardeners will be on hand to share tips. Information on local farm markets throughout Middlesex County will also be available. Visitors can get expert advice from volunteer educators while learning about other Extension programs at the EARTH Center.

*Don’t forget to stop by the tent and take home a variety of pies, cider donuts, pickles, salsa, and preserves. The village’s historic buildings will be open for guests to explore, see exhibitions and programming, and meet our living history staff. 

*Please note that there will be three musket demonstrations: 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm. 

For your convenience, RIDE, the County’s shuttle service, will provide FREE, accessible, on-demand transportation between East Jersey Old Town Village and the Cornelius Low House. Park in one spot and experience multiple historic sites.