This fall, the Nantucket Historical Association will once again celebrate the bountiful harvest of Nantucket’s crops with the Annual NHA Harvest Fair on Sunday, October 2, from 12:00 P.M. – 3:00 P.M. at the Old Mill at 50 Prospect Street.
Nantucket has its own history of such gatherings, dating back to the mid-19th century. At the first Nantucket Agricultural Society’s annual Harvest Fair in 1865, high school principal A. B. Whipple said, “The great benefit…of these fairs is not all in improved stock and improved fruits, but in improved minds, improved tastes, improved sensibilities to whatever is beautiful; thereby improving our life and augmenting our happiness.”
In that same theme of improving life and augmenting happiness, we cordially invite you to come to the Old Mill to gather with other families to celebrate the harvest and reconnect with friends now that the pace of life on the island is gradually slowing down. There will be a host of family-friendly activities at this year’s Harvest Fair. Inside the Old Mill, the grindstone will be grinding corn into cornmeal that will be available for purchase, and NHA interpreters will be on-hand to offer guided tours of the interior of the structure and explain its operation. Outside the mill, activities will include a petting zoo, a photo booth, historic games, and arts & crafts projects. To sustain all that activity requires sustenance, and the NHA will have seasonal refreshments on hand to satiate both hunger and thirst.
Tickets for the Harvest Fair are $5 per child and free for accompanying adults, and may be purchased at the event beginning at noon on Sunday, October 2. In the event of rain, the event will be held inside the NHA Whaling Museum at 13 Broad Street. For more information, call 508-228-1894, ext. 0.
