By: Avalynne Russell
With the beautiful fall weather finally setting in and everyone getting into the pumpkin-spice spirit, all kinds of different festivities are beginning to pop up everywhere. Events like this bring the community together with art, music, good food, crafts and so much more. To give you more insight on what exactly some of these festivals entail, The Squire visited a few of them, and interviewed junior, Alyssa Wismar, for some further information.
Busti Apple Festival
On September 23 and 24 of this year, the town of Busti, New York held the 49th annual Busti Apple Festival. It featured many different vendors with delicious food, crafts, and other handmade items from many different local businesses and vendors, along with many little exhibits on 19th century Busti. It is always held on the last Sunday of September from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Busti Historical Society grounds to follow the historical tradition of the Busti Pioneer Crafts Festival. This festival is perfect for all ages and abilities, with it being outside for people to indulge in the wonderful fall scenery, and on mostly flat grounds. If you were lucky enough to go this year, we hope that you had an amazing time and ate lots of good food and that you found many little trinkets to take home! If you couldn’t make it this year, be sure to mark it on your calendar for next year.
Pumpkintown
If you are looking for somewhere to go get into the fall spirit with young children, Pumpkintown is the perfect place for you! Located in Jamestown, New York, Pumpkintown has many different attractions and plenty of delicious food. Their attractions that are included with the general admission fee includes hayrides, the pumpkin jump pad, cow train, corn pit, a giant slide, spook shack, corn hole, pumpkin checkers, jumbo connect four, corn maze/ hay maze, pumpkin bowling, a petting zoo, and face painting. With an additional fee, you can participate in pony rides, shooting apple cannons, gem mining and paintball, along with the purchase of pumpkins and official Pumpkintown tee-shirts. Some of the amazing foods that they are known for are their apple cider, apple cider slushies, seasonal flavored ice cream, cheeseburgers, loaded and regular French fries, Philly cheese steaks and so much more! On some weekends you can even find live shows and attractions like chainsaw carving, magic shows, costume contests, the K9 search and rescue team, boy Scouts and even some cheer teams. They also have many super cute photo opportunities all over the grounds. You can visit them every weekend, September 16 to October 29 from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., so be sure to stop by for some fall fun!
Port Farms Fall Harvest
Located in Waterford Pennsylvania, the Port Farms Fall Harvest Festival has attractions for all ages! With giant slides, amazing photo opportunities, an eight-acre corn maze and live music, this is the perfect place to spend a crisp autumn afternoon. They also feature many small shops to explore and buy all kinds of different souvenirs as you walk around, as well as some delicious fall themed treats to snack on, such as fresh baked doughnuts, cinnamon rolls, brownies, apple cider, funnel cakes, kettle corn and so much more. When we asked Wismar about her favorite festival to attend, she gave us a very enthusiastic answer of, “My favorite festival to attend is the one at Port Farms, because it has activities for all ages, and hayrides and the food. Plus, being able to get pumpkins, it truly feels like a fall-infused place that I find insanely fun!” If you want to visit this insanely fun place, as Wismar said, you can visit them September 16 through October 29 on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., along with Fridays and Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Nightmare Hayrides
If you’re looking for something that is targeted towards a more thrill-seeking audience, then Nightmare Hayrides is the right place for you. According to their website, this attraction is known to be the scariest haunted attraction in western New York, featuring a gothic chamber, haunted wooden maze, haunted barn, vortex tunnel, and, of course, a haunted hayride. Throughout the grounds and all the attractions, guests will encounter many terrifying creatures that will definitely give you nightmares. If you would like to pay them a spooky visit, you can find them on Sommerville street in Ellicottville, New York, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., September 29 through October 29. With all of this being said, we hope that you get a chance to visit one, if not all of these spook-tacular festivities this fall! We also want to say a huge thank you to Wismar for taking the time to answer our questions. For more articles on all things fall and homecoming related, be sure to check out the rest of this issue of The Squire!
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