Booths, food, and fun was spread across Valparaiso’s Central Park Plaza on October 14. The rain and wind didn’t stop region locals from coming out to enjoy the annual Fall Harvest Festival on Saturday morning. Family-friendly activities such as: face painting, balloon-making, pumpkin painting, live entertainment sponsored by Purdue Northwest, farmers’ market booths, and free treats like caramel apples along with apple cider sponsored by Healthclinc, were around every corner.
Executive Event Marketing Manager Tom Clifford said that this event kicks off the fall season and also supports all of the downtown businesses and brings the community together.
”This is in tandem with Trick or Treat, which was last night," Clifford said. “It's the way we kick off the end of summer and the beginning of fall so it's great to see the community come out for this.”
The Valparaiso Events tent had a raffle that attendees could enter and all the proceeds went to support a scholarship fund that gave two Valparaiso High School (VHS) students a $2,500 award to aid their college expenses. Valparaiso Events also helped the National Honor Society (NHS) with all the proceeds from pumpkin painting going back to the NHS program.
“It’s an opportunity for everyone to come out and get their faces painted, get some pumpkins to paint, free balloon animals, and come together to give back to one another,” said Clifford.
Not only was this an event that was fun for attending locals, but there were many booths that were giving back, whether it was from their proceeds or the work they do.
The National Guard is a frequent booth that can be seen at many Valpo events and they love educating the community on all the things they have to offer. National Guard Staff Sergeant Daniel Edwards said that these events are more than just marketing for him, it's more about the community and how he can serve them.
“What I always like to say is that the National Guard is more of a community-based organization than just a branch of the military,” Edwards said. “Our model is we live here, we work here, we serve here, and our mission first is to make sure our communities are taken care of in Indiana.”
Similar to the National Guard mission of giving back to the community, the Valparaiso High School dance team, the Vikettes, painted attendees' faces, sponsored by Noah’s Ark Pediatrics for a good cause. All proceeds from the face painting went to maintain the Ann Nelson Scholarship Fund. Ann Nelson was the VHS dance team’s coach for 17 years. She lost her battle with Breast Cancer two years ago, so this is a way the team still honors her, as well as giving back to their community.
Head Coach Katherine Lopez said that events like this show the community that all the support they give their team comes right back to them. They love to pay it forward.
“We do this annually, rain or shine, and it’s fun to see all of these kids’ faces being painted,” Lopez said. “Events like this, where we can go to give back to show that we are here, and we're a part of the community, we truly enjoy.”
Lopez said community outreach is a big platform for her and her team and events like Fall Harvest Fest are ones they look forward to.
“These girls love being a part of the community and I can't stress that enough,” Lopez said. “We make sure that community service is on our schedule, in the same way that games are. We make sure that this is a priority as well.”
Events like this are important to so many people. It’s a great way to give back but events like these allow small businesses to branch out and meet the people they are serving. Family-run and owned, local business, Hickory Hills Flower Farm loves that they can come to Valparaiso events and see people enjoy their product.
Hickory Hills worker and sister to the owner, Alaina Kurt, says the festival allows her to see the beauty of her product reach the community that she loves.
“We definitely love the community here because everyone is kind and welcoming,” Kurt said. “ We love to bring flowers and the beauty that flowers encompass. We allow people to give that beauty to others when they buy flowers."
A new business to the Valparaiso community, Buhle Chiropractic and Wellness had a tent at today’s festival to spread positivity and wellness to its community. Dr. Megan Buhle was born and raised in Valparaiso, so it holds a special place in her heart, and it follows her into her practice. She also likes to inform and take care of her residents. She allows walk-ins and keeps her treatments affordable because she loves her community.
“It's always nice to have somebody here from the office, but it's even cooler when you can actually see the doctor walking around treating people rather than just a marketing person,” Dr. Megan said. “Being able to give back to the community in this way, and meet more people in the place where we grew up is really nice.”
This event brought the community together to kick off Fall. This two-day event had a lot of thought and consideration that went into it to make it happen. Valparaiso Events wanted to give a special thank you to all its vendors, sponsors and locals who were able to come out and enjoy but also give back to their community and make this event possible. They hope you add the Fall Harvest Festival to your calendar and they will see you next year.
To learn more about Valparaiso's upcoming events visit: valparaisoevents.com.