Habersham Harvest Festival
Friday, October 14 – Sunday, October 16
The Habersham Harvest Festival is a grand event that captures the essence of Fall, community, localism, and tradition. The award-winning coastal town of Habersham’s idyllic village center, the Habersham Marketplace, will present the 12th Annual Harvest Festival on October 14 –16 after having to postpone for the past two years due to Covid. The festival began in 2009 when the Habersham Merchants Council wanted to create an annual event focused on family, affordability, entertainment, and education. It showcased what it means to be a part of a community. The inspiration was the nostalgic County Fair, where a community’s agriculture and wares were showcased, and games and rides were provided for fun. Everything the Harvest Festival continues to do today is done with that inspiration in mind.
In the festival’s early years, the relationships formed with the vendors of the then-weekly Habersham Farmers Market helped launch the event. The festival was a way to offer them an opportunity for greater regional exposure. In return, they were key in helping to recruit many other local arts and crafts vendors that became annual participants in the event. For the first five years, the Harvest Festival was primarily a large, local artisan market with kids’ activities, fitness, and educational activities, and entertainment. In 2013, the Merchants Council brought in Jodie Miller with Plum Productions to help take the Harvest Festival to the next level, which they did. Plum Productions took it from a grassroots effort, attracting 800–1000 people each year, to a professional production that saw an immediate jump to 3,000 participants and has since grown to 10,000 participants. This was done by raising the quality of the festival, having better marketing, and introducing the iconic Ferris Wheel that has become the trademark of the Harvest Festival. Now, in addition to the arts and crafts vendors and the kids’ activities, there are plenty of vintage rides throughout the village center, such as a carousel, kiddie swing, strong man hammer (ring the bell!), giant slide, a midway of games, and others. This is not a festival where you will find blow-up jumpy castles. The Harvest Festival is an event built off tradition and is reminiscent of a time when we were much more closely tied to our local community. It hopes to give participants that sense of community when they attend and to become an annual tradition for their family and friends. Going forward, the Harvest Festival plans to continue what it is doing but eventually find a way to add in the missing agricultural component. One day, there will be a Blue Ribbon Pig!
This year, because there is so much excitement about the Harvest Festival returning after Covid, additional hours will be added on Friday for most of the rides and food trucks. This will give families a chance to come after school and purchase an all-you-can-ride bracelet for Friday only. The Ferris Wheel will be available on Saturday and Sunday only, but there will be plenty of rides, good food, and live music on Friday night. Then, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, the full festival opens, and families can enjoy all the festivities until 6 p.m. or come back on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. again. The festival is free admission, with tickets available to be purchased for rides and select activities. Arts & Crafts and food will be available for purchase as well. The Harvest Festival is hosted in Habersham Marketplace and produced by Plum Productions. Habersham Marketplace is located at 13 Market Street in Habersham, just off of Joe Frazier Road via Broad River Blvd. in Beaufort, SC.
Visit www.habershammarketplace.com for more information.
