Jefferson Harvest Festival a Natural
When Jefferson Elementary School was erected in the early 1960’s the site was surrounded by farmland. It was an activity that continued unabated for several decades. Today the local farms have been shutdown, but that didn’t stop students and staff from recently celebrating a Harvest Festival on the school grounds.
The event is an annual highlight of the Jefferson school year and students and teachers anxiously look forward to hours of outdoor activities. Faculty members spend hours planning the day and tying activities into classroom curriculums. Most students have little knowledge of Huntington’s agricultural traditions or that harvest festivals were the norm in earlier centuries.
“After rainy weather forced us to reschedule our Harvest Festival, the kindergarteners enjoyed a picture perfect day,” Principal Margaret Evers said. “The children were delighted to discover a pumpkin patch had sprung up overnight as result of them ‘planting’ their pumpkin seeds on the kindergarten lawn! It was a joy to watch each child revel in the magic of the season. Many thanks to all the members of the PTA Harvest Festival committee lead by Kathleen DeLuca and Kit Sullivan.”
The youngsters stuffed scarecrows as part of a relay race, picked pumpkins from an open field and decorated them, took a hay ride around the school campus in a truck the buildings and grounds department sent to Jefferson, tossed bean bags and participated in a reading of festival favorite Stone Soup with librarian Cindy Tietjen and enjoyed a cup of piping hot soup.
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