Harvest Fest: Worth It?
Dickinson College’s annual Harvest Festival took place on the evening of September 30th at the Dickinson College Farm. Students in attendance ate free Leo’s ice cream, french fries, soup and freshly made apple cider, which the farm workers made on site. The event had live music, square-dancing and a bonfire. According to the Dickinson College Organic Farm blog, the tradition began in 2004.
Buses shuttled students from the Kaufman parking lot to the farm beginning at 5:45 p.m. The event itself ran from about 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., with students coming and going as they pleased throughout the duration of the festival.
Gabriella Boyes ’25 expressed her enjoyment of the festival saying “[it was a] really nice community building activity to go to and get students off campus.” She emphasized how nice it was to get fresh food and get to walk around the farm a little. As president of the Swing Dancing club, she especially liked the contra dancing, which is a group folk dance.
Although many students expressed their enjoyment of the festival, some did not. Allie Hershey ’25 attended the event with some friends. “Overall I think it was a great time… I think it was a great time for the college to get together and celebrate fall,” she said. She went on to say “I do think the lines were very long and a lot of the night was wasted waiting on the lines.” Many students seem to share Hershey’s complaint, on the bus on the ride home one student loudly announced “I don’t know what I was expecting but this wasn’t it.”
Hershey elaborated saying that because there were such long lines “I feel like it didn’t accommodate a lot of people.” She even went further expressing her desire for a second bonfire to counter the cramping around the fire. She ended with “I wish there was a better system with more things offered.”
