WASHINGTON HEIGHTS — Upper Manhattan is gearing up to celebrate autumn with a cornucopia of fun during Saturday’s Harvest festival in Fort Tryon Park.
The tenth annual festival features an array of country-fair-style activities, including judges for pie baking, scarecrow making and pumpkin painting contests, games and performances. A table of delectable cupcakes will also be at hand.
A processional of performers playing kazoos, buckets and other instruments will also bid “goodbye to Persephone, daughter of Demeter, the Greek goddess of the harvest, as she begins her journey to the underworld, where she will spend the winter months,” according to organizers.
Community volunteers organize the free event with support from local businesses and the Parks Department. Participants are asked to bring a donation for a canned food drive for the hungry.
The event takes place Saturday, October 22, from 1 to 4 p.m., at the New Leaf Café lawn in Fort Tryon Park.
In case of rain, the festival will be relocated to Fort Tryon Collegiate Church on the corner of Fort Washington Avenue and West 181st Street.
