Karina Gonzalez
This weekend, Pierce College was proud to welcome back its annual Halloween Harvest Festival.
The wildly popular event, which opened Friday, is located at the corner of De Soto Avenue and Victory Boulevard for the next five weeks, and all are welcome to join in the festivities.
This year the preparations for the event went according to plan, according to Linda Carberry, the school’s farm center manager.
“So far, we’ve only been working with a handful of people, including the students that work here. But we’re right on schedule with everything and we’re very proud of that,” she said.
Many new features have been added to this year’s festival, as well as some old favorites, like Spookley the square pumpkin and his friend Jack the scarecrow, both at the all-new Holiday Hill Farms’ stage show. The farm-grown pumpkins are another popular aspect of the festival and are always ready to be picked up and taken home.
The festival also promises to have a slightly more sinister persona than in previous years, as the new FrightFair Scream Park comes to life. It features both the “Factory of Nightmares” haunted house, as well as the “Creatures of the Corn” haunted trail.
Another new, exciting feature in this year’s festival is the “Get lost in our five-acre Adventure” Corn Maze. There will also be plenty of kids activities during the day, such as the petting zoo featuring our farm’s ponies, donkeys, sheep and goats. There are also hay rides, bungee bouncing and other exciting games for older kids.
For adults, there will be a range of activities such as group sales, class field trips, parties and corporate teambuilding activities. There will also be a wide variety of food for sale throughout the day.
The Halloween Harvest Festival is sponsored by the Foundation for Pierce College. All proceeds will benefit the Agricultural Education Center.
People traveling on the Metro Orange Line can get off directly north of The Halloween Harvest Festival, at the De Soto Avenue Metro stop. If you bring your MTA bus ticket from the same day, you will receive free admission.
The festival will be open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. On Mondays, the event will be closed. For updates and information, visit www.halloweenharvestfestival.com
Admission is free to children 3 and younger, and $4 to everyone else.
Pumpkins signal the beginning of the Harvest Festival. ()