Posted on by fobbnc
On Saturday, November 5th, Bentonville celebrated its annual Fall Festival! The return to Fall Festival saw a much larger and more exciting program than had ever been seen before! Read on for a quick recap of the event, some reflections, and of course plenty of photos!
The event took place from 10:00-4:00 and attendance was incredible! Unlike many Bentonville events, the Fall Festival doesn’t include military demos but instead aims for a fun, carnival style event with historic trades and civilian demonstrations, plus tons of other, more modern activities! Events like this are a great way for us to interpret aspects of 19th century civilian life in a fun environment.
Throughout the day, visitors enjoyed taking a ride around the site on the wagon ride! The wagon was provided by our friends at Averasboro Battlefield.
One of our many historic trades demonstrations, our blacksmith became one of the most popular demos to watch and learn about life in the 19th century and how tools and other items were created. Other historic trades demonstrations included corn shelling and grinding, woodworking, candle dipping and lye soap making!
The Fall Festival also provided the exciting opportunity to listen to our friends the WaterBound Dulcimers show off their instruments and play some beautiful music. Throughout the day, members came and went and they moved through lots of great songs and often had quite an audience listening as well!
Of course no event is complete without plenty of opportunities for the kids (and adults) to have some fun! Our family/kids activity area included lots of fun, old timey games, plus a leaf-rubbing craft, and, most popular, an inflatable slide! Families had a blast all day hanging out in this area. Also, at 11:00 and 2:00, visitors got the chance to play vintage baseball!
The best part about the Fall Festival, though, was getting to hang out with our friends and community members and have a place for everyone to gather. We had two local food vendors providing concessions for everyone and a full community group area with friends from all over gathering to talk about what makes them special. Our community group area included:
- Johnston County Beekeepers
- Johnston County Heritage Center
- Tobacco Farm Life Museum
- American Legion Post 132
- Veterans of Foreign Wars
- Vietnam Veterans Association
- Sons of Union Veterans
- Museum of the Cape Fear
- Bennett Place State Historic Site
- Averasboro Battlefield
- Friends of the Mountains-to-Sea Trail
- Cliffs of the Neuse State Park
- NC Department of Health and Human Services
- NC Department of Natural and Cultural Resources
Check out more photos of our community group area, food vendors, and more below.
We want to thank everyone who provided their talent, energy, and resources to making this an incredible event! The full-time staff at Bentonville are so lucky to have the part-time staff, volunteers, and friends that we have that can pull together such an incredible day! Thank you to each of our volunteers for supporting the event. Thank you to each of the state of NC staff who helped out with this event. Thank you to our community groups and food vendors for completing a great day. Thank you to our visitors who took the time to walk through the Fall Festival and enjoy the day. Finally, thank you to the Friends of Bentonville Battlefield for sponsoring and supporting the event!
We’ll see you December 3rd at A Civil War Christmas!