The Greene County Historical Society celebrated a milestone on Oct. 9 and 10 with the 50th Annual Harvest Festival. Starting at 10 a.m. and ending at 5 p.m. each day, the festival featured spectacles such as Civil War reenactments, baking competitions, and a fireworks display.

“Harvest Festival is kind of a continuation of Greene County history, bringing the past to the present and making everything full circle,” Executive Director Matthew Cumberledge said. “We usually try to feature things like traditional demonstrations, bringing in a little bit of Native American heritage.”

One of the focuses of this year’s festival was a return to where it began.

“We’re trying to get back to the traditional roots of it when this started 50 years ago and bring more harvest into it,” Cumberledge said. “We hope everyone comes and enjoys their time here.”

History fans were able to enjoy four Civil War reenactments over the weekend, giving a glimpse into what it was like living in a time of war. Perhaps the most exciting part of the reenactments was the train robbery that will take place on Saturday.

“We’ve got a locomotive here at the museum,” Cumberledge said. “And we’ve done a lot of work refurbishing it, and we’ve just replaced all the tracks.”

New to the Harvest Festival this year was the baking competitions. The first of these was a pepperoni roll competition that was held on Saturday, and the second was an apple pie competition that was held on Sunday. Rules and information could be found on the Facebook page of the Greene County Historical Society Museum. 

A returning feature of the Festival was all of the vendors that were participating, many of which demonstrated as well. One that was pointed out by Cumberledge was a lingard pottery vendor that was throwing pottery as part of their demonstrations. 

Other activities of note were the fireworks display on Saturday evening at dusk. There were also some fresh baked food, such as pizzas and pretzels, baked in a century old brick oven. There were a number of activities for kids of all ages to enjoy. 

When it comes to dealing with the ongoing COVID pandemic, Cumberledge said that guests will have to follow local and CDC guidelines. But since the majority of the festival will be outdoors, he says that things will be “relatively normal.” 

A full schedule of the Harvest Festival can be found on the Historical Society’s Facebook page along with further information about the events.