Cherry Hill hosted its harvest festival on Oct. 19 at Croft Farm, an annual tradition in the township that goes back at least two decades, when it was called the pumpkin festival.
“Harvest Fest is one of Cherry Hill’s biggest and best events, drawing thousands each year,” said Mayor Dave Fleisher. “This (year) was no different, with perfect weather, food trucks, a beer garden, live entertainment, a petting zoo, pumpkins and over 75 vendors.”
At the entrance, large produce palettes full of pumpkins were available for the taking, a major feature of the festival. Music was provided by both a DJ and live musicians. An area for kids activities such as mini golf and Henna art was set aside behind some of the buildings on site, with a bubble machine placed at the entrance.
Kylie Schimph was in charge of face painting, noting that the Philadelphia Eagles design she offered was particularly popular.
“It was awesome,” she enthused about the festival. “We had a great time, we had a lot of people, lots of business, and I think the kids really enjoyed it.”
Township police had their own booth adjacent to the kids section, where they gave out police-branded items and sold shirts to raise money for the Police Unity Tour. They also had a station inside one of the buildings to create ID cards for kids.
The Cherry Hill Environmental Board had a set of displays and activities where families could sit and read books about nature and wildlife, and there were tables of information on the township’s trails and the local ecosystem.
“We’re just illustrating here that two of our trails are designated as National Recreation trails, yeah, which is kind of a big deal,” explained Lewis Gorman, chair of the township’s Environmental Advisory Committee. “There’s probably less than 10 in the entire state.”
Two games were available that asked kids and adults to identify wildlife by images and animal tracks. Taxidermied animals, antlers, bones, skins and three-dimensional casts of tracks were also on display.
“I like getting the adults involved,” Gorman noted. “They learn stuff with a message that all these animals live around here. So get out on the trails, get in contact with nature, and try to find the animals. If you can’t find the animals themselves, sometimes you can find their tracks.”
The area furthest from the event entrance featured a food court with vendors serving everything from apple cider donuts to dumplings, while the Mechanical Brewery truck sold beer and seltzers.
“I’m proud to bring people of all ages and backgrounds together, and to see record-breaking attendance at so many of our events,” the mayor commented. “It’s a testament to our community’s desire to connect and come together.”
A large section of the festival was set aside for local businesses, organizations and vendors who sold desserts and snacks like macarons and vodka-infused cotton candy, as well as handmade crafts. One of the businesses was the mobile bookstore Austen’s Shelf, where township resident Kiera McFadden-Roan stopped to peruse the available selection.
“It was lots of fun,” she observed of the event. “It was a nice mix of free activities and paid activities, a really nice afternoon.”
