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Date: 9/27/2022
EASTHAMPTON – The iconic Easthampton Harvest Festival is returning to Nonotuck Park on Oct. 9 from 1 to 6 p.m.
The festival will feature 30 craft/goods vendors from 1 to 5 p.m., inflatables from 1 to 4:45 p.m., horse carriage rides from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., face painting and balloon twisting from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m., music from songwriter Roger Salloom from 2:30 to 4 p.m. at the Rotary Club Pavilion, and music to close out the day from DJ Nick Tanguay from 4 to 6 p.m.
In 2020, the city hosted a virtual “Rag Shag” Halloween festival with the help of Easthampton Media where residents were asked to submit a short two-to-five-minute video highlighting a specific Halloween theme.
The festival returned in-person in 2021 with a scaled-back version of what the festival was years prior to the coronavirus pandemic. The 2021 festival featured a bonfire, a “Rag Shag” candy handout, the patented pumpkin carving contest, and other Halloween cartoons.
For 2022, the festival will look a lot like pre-2020 years. “The festival this year will look a lot more normal,” said John Mason, the director of the city’s Parks and Recreation Department.
The bonfire will once again return to the festival this year and begin at 5 p.m. The annual pumpkin carving contest for all ages will also return, but Mason said residents must carve their design before the festival and register it for consideration by 4:15 p.m. at Pavilion 1 on the day of the festival. Participants can either create a Disney-themed design, a horror movie design, or any other original design one could think of. The winner will receive a trophy, a goody bag, and a 2023 season pass to Nonotuck Park. Winners will be announced at 4:45 p.m. during the festival. No stencils are allowed.
According to the flyer, food options at the festival will include The Saucy Mama, Sun Kim Bop, Crazy Arepas, The Grill and Wake the Dead Donuts.
After two lost years, the Rag Shag parade will also return to this year’s festival, according to Mason, and the Parks and Recreation Department plans to have specific information on that in the coming days.