Enfield Harvest Festival returns this month

This month, on Sept. 24 from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., the Enfield Community Council will hold its 48th annual Harvest Festival, which organizers hope will attract more people than last year’s.

According to Cortney Bailey, president of the Enfield Community Council, last year’s festival had between 400 and 500 attendees, short of the pre-pandemic average of 600 to 700 attendees.

“Everyone was still kind of freaking out over COVID,” Bailey said. “So, it was [lower] than what we normally see.”

Despite the turnout last year, the festival raised more money last year than it did in 2019 — $2,860.07 in 2021 compared to $1,713.51 in 2019. Bailey said this is because the 2021 festival did not feature the ping pong drop, and many materials were donated to the festival, thus allowing the organizers to cut down on expenses.

Bailey said that last year’s festival went well overall and that she was happy to see people turn out for the festival.

“It was nice to see people out and enjoying themselves again, which was definitely needed after the whole COVID lockdown situation,” Bailey said.

Bailey hopes to attract 800 people this year, something she believes is possible because the festival is at the Enfield Community Center this year. In previous years, the festival was held at the Enfield Grange, the old fire house and the elementary school.

According to Bailey, the Enfield Community Council owning the Community Center makes it easier to prepare for the festival than the elementary school since work on preparing the elementary school for the festival could only be done when the school was closed.

“It should really boost people wanting to come see that hey, we are open, it is safe, come and see what we have to offer,” Bailey said. “I know I’m shooting high, but I’d rather shoot high than not.”

In order to accomplish this goal, Bailey is advertising the event in a variety of areas. In addition to traditional advertising methods, such as flyers, posters and online postings, the organizers will take the new step of purchasing a Facebook ad that targets people in the area. Bailey also was careful to schedule the festival so that it would not conflict with other local events.

COVID-19 safety precautions will largely remain the same as last year. Face masks will be encouraged but not mandatory unless the Tompkins County Health Department guidance changes, and hand sanitizer will be widely available, the latter of which is a step that the Enfield Community Council had never taken prior to the pandemic.

Bailey plans on positioning the band differently this year because last year, the band was too loud in some areas and not loud enough in others. She also hopes to more efficiently organize the festival so attractions are closer together and none of them end up being isolated.

Bailey hopes that future Harvest Festivals can last for two or three days, but that change will take time and planning to implement, such as communicating with the fire, sheriff and highway departments about doing a parade, and they would need to begin organizing a multiple-day festival earlier than a single-day festival.

She said holding it on multiple days would attract more vendors, who might be more willing to come if they could set up shop and stay for a few days, and would also be convenient for many families who might happen to be busy on the one day the festival is normally held and thus give them more chances to attend.

Bailey said the Harvest Festival is a rare town-wide local event in Enfield, which no longer has a fair or a fireman’s carnival.

“For many many years, the Enfield Harvest Festival was the only thing that was in town,” Bailey said. “You could go to Trumansburg fair or go down to Ithaca and do stuff as a family, but there was nothing in town, and so, for last 50 years — 47 years minus COVID — this has been really the only thing that people can walk to, come down to, and it’s in their in hometown.”

In the end, Bailey wants festival attendees to have a good time and is optimistic that the weather will encourage people to attend.

“It’s been a very long road, and we all deserve it,” Bailey said.

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In brief:

Enfield Town Board to meet

On Sept. 14, the Enfield Town Board will hold its monthly meeting at 6 p.m.

The meeting will feature a public hearing on a local law that will allow the public bodies of the town to use video conferencing technology to participate in public meetings.

For more information, including the agenda and the Zoom link, go to townofenfield.org/public-hearing-september-14-2022-at-600-pm/.

Danby Town Board to meet

The Danby Town Board will meet Sept. 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information, including the agenda, go to danby.ny.gov/event/town-board-meeting-21-sept-2022/.