On Saturday, November 13th, Earth’s Eco hosted their very first Harvest Fest at the Commons Pavilion. Earth’s Eco president Kiara Frischkorn stated that the club had been interested in doing a festival-style event for some time, particularly with the gradual return to normalcy the campus has been experiencing this semester. With a goal of providing students with a fun and engaging festival experience, while also bringing together the wider campus community to collaborate on a major project, event planners worked with different groups from all corners of the campus to make Harvest Fest possible. 

Coordinating this event was quite the challenge, according to Kiara, and she couldn’t have done it without the help of the other members of Earth’s Eco, describing the process as a “team operation.” One focus in the planning phase was “keeping it local”, with a focus on bringing in clubs on campus and local businesses and showing off what our community had to offer. 

There were a wide variety of activities to choose from, hosted by many different clubs, organizations, and teams on campus. There was a bake sale hosted by Sailing Club, DIY lip balm and honey sales by Honeybee Conservation Club, and a pie-eating contest, hosted by the Men’s Rugby Team. A few outdoor games were also available, including a cornhole tournament by the Student Philanthropy Association, and lawn games, courtesy of the Outdoor Rec Council. Fitting the fall theme, numerous pumpkin-related events were available, such as the Club Tennis team’s pumpkin carving, and Chemistry Club’s DIY pumpkin spice. In particular, Active Minds’ pumpkin smashing proved quite popular with students.  

Rounding out available activities were the Women and Gender Studies Club’s donut on a string game (accompanied by coloring pages and a gratitude tree), a scavenger hunt hosted by Education Club, a thrift shop, and DIY succulents conducted by Earth’s Eco, and counting Swedish fish for a prize with the Ocean Club. In addition to clubs involved in this event, student-owned businesses such as Agava by Lexi, EmLewKnits, and Emma’s Seaglass were present, as well as musician Chad Haynes and a local food truck, Mainely Meatballs. 

Attendees of the event were extremely pleased with the experience, citing the cozy atmosphere, music, and the scavenger hunt as the things they enjoyed the most. Other clubs who participated were also extremely happy with this event. In a discussion with some of the representatives of the Outdoor Rec Council, members Osage, Kate, and Connor stated that they were happy with the turnout and the publicity that the Outdoor Rec Council was able to get at the Harvest Fest and that they were, “definitely doing this again next year.” 

Student turnout for Harvest Fest was also quite impressive, with Kiara stating that “during the first hour, attendance peaked at around two hundred students, and Harvest Fest actually felt like a proper festival.” Extremely pleased with the success of this event, members of Earth’s Eco have shown an interest in hosting another Harvest Fest next year, if other clubs are interested as well.