FAB hosted its Annual Fall Fest on the Centennial Green Thursday, Oct. 17. The festival featured a horse-drawn carriage, fall crafts and multiple local businesses for students to shop at.
Hundreds of students lined up before the start of the event for a chance to get a free Fall Fest mug and the choice of a voucher from a few of the shops. FAB also handed out golden tickets to 100 random students that guaranteed a mug and let them skip the long line.
Some of the featured local businesses included: Brimfield Bread Oven, Kline Honey Bee Farm, Bigfoot Mushrooms and Freaky Fruits, which attracted a lot of students’ attention with its name and fresh fruit cups being sold.
One of the businesses was Purple Thistle Botanicals. Based in Canton, it sells made-from-scratch goods, including lotions and soaps.
Purple Thistle Botanicals’ owner, Alyssa Taylor, said Fall Fest allowed her business to gain more traction from attendees.
“I would love to continue to grow,” she said. “I would like to hone in on a more personal level with markets and just continue to make connections with people — especially other vendors — and continue to work with other small businesses.”
Taylor also encouraged people to continue to shop small and local.
“It’s really hard right now; there’s a lot going on. Just make sure you’re continuously supporting small and local businesses because they are the backbone of our communities, and it’s really important,” she said.
Oakleigh Bucher, a freshman communications major, said the festival for her was “just walking around and seeing everybody hang out — that sense of community.”
“I think it’s really cool how you get a lot of local business people in here,” Bucher said. The Haymaker Farmer’s Market, which takes place every Saturday year-round, also had its own stand at the festival.
Colin Grant, a sophomore computer science major, said he and his friends usually attend the Haymaker Farmer’s Market every weekend.
“It’s nice that it’s already on campus and a little bit less of a walk,” he said.
Tyler Thompson, a sophomore finance major, also attended the festival. Thompson reflected on why Fall Fest is so unique.
“Just that it’s on campus. It’s easy for a ton of college students to just get together, buy some stuff, hang out,” Thompson said.
Fall Fest is not the only event that FAB is putting on in October. Five more events are to come, including “Boo Bash” on Halloween night. FAB is offering “Spooky Series” stamp cards to students at each of their October events for a chance to win an iPad, if they attend at least four of them.
“I think it’s nice that it’s able to bring everyone here, as well as people in the community,” Grant said. “You can not only get a better sense of the people who you’re living with and engaging with, but also the people around you.”
Melora Shue is a reporter. Contact her at [email protected].
Sofia Helena is a reporter for KSTV. Contact her at [email protected].