Annual Fall Festival Offers Food, Fun and Crafts

For those of you in the Fall spirit on Long Island, you probably attended the 18th Annual this past weekend.

The Fall Festival, located in Huntington’s Heckscher Park, was busting at the seams with all sorts of interesting things to look at, take part in, and of course, eat.  Fully funded by sponsors like Verizon, the John W. Engeman Theater, and the North Shore Financial Group; the LI Fall Festival was free for all who wished to attend. 

Upon entering the Heckscher Park area, you were immediately greeted by about twenty different smells of all sorts of scrumptious foods. Standouts to my tantalized taste buds included: sizzling bratwurst accompanied by tangy sauerkraut; lobster rolls stuffed to the brim with lettuce and you guessed it, lobster; a perfect harmony of meat, cheese, and peppers in a Philly Cheese Steak; and even a Nisen sushi stand where they rolled out fresh sushi right before your eyes– which I have never seen before at a festival.

And that was only the beginning of the foodstuffs available.

There were caramel and candy apples everywhere, fried Oreos and even fried Twinkies, and bags and bags of fresh Kettle Corn ready for the eating.  If you went to the LI Fall Festival hungry, you surely left there overflowing with all sorts of delicious snacks.

The festival also had a Beer and Wine Tent, which left  little to be desired. There was a serious lack of seating inside this tent and three beverage options – five dollar beer, seven dollar Sam Adams Oktoberfest, and assorted wines for your imbibing pleasure.  There was a serious lack of seating inside this tent but luckily the football game was plastered over several big screen televisions yesterday.

Besides food options, there was an abundance of boutique tents with plenty to peruse and purchase.

Local artists, business owners, and even honey-makers set up shop alongside one edge of Heckscher Park to make for a bustling shopping experience.  Rare finds on this edge of the festival included: assorted rhinestoned and shimmering Dragonleaf Jewels; everything you could imagine tie-dyed and ready for wearing from The Edge Tie Dye; handmade bracelets, bangles, and necklaces from Bead-Dazzled; and Buckabee Honey’s sweet yet tangy Honey Sticks, which made a delicious snack for only 25 cents.

I myself did not participate in the actual Amusement Park part of the festival, but it looked pretty sweet from where I was standing. It was chock full of all of those typical rides that you find at traveling fairs that flip you upside down, shake you back and forth, and make you question why you ate that entire foot long hot dog before going on the ride.

If you did not attend this year, I suggest you mark the date on your calendar for next Fall – it was surely an event not to be missed!