We’ve been going to the Harvest Festival almost every year since I was in elementary school. It’s delightful to see some of the same vendors every year – a few of whom even remember us and say “hi” – and to see many new ones as well. As an artist, I always find it inspiring to see so many new ideas and creative styles in one place. We often find truly unique gifts for our hard-to-shop-for friends and family members here too!
In a Nutshell
This is a large indoor arts & crafts festival that travels around California and parts of Nevada every year, showcasing beautiful hand-made arts and crafts, specialty foods, kids’ craft and activity areas, and a live stage with continuous music and entertainment. I think of it as a playful cross between a county fair (minus the farm animals and ferris wheels) and an art & wine festival.
Understandably, out of respect for the artists’ work, the show forbids most photography inside. My apologies for the limited photos in this post as a result.
Location
This is a traveling show, so you can choose the location that’s closest to you. Check out the Shows page on their website for this year’s schedule. Parking and transportation details will obviously depend on the venue.
Weather
This is an indoor show, so you’ll enjoy it regardless of the weather outside. Given that many of these shows happen in the fall and over the holiday season, being a weatherproof outing is definitely a feature!
Cost
At the door, tickets are typically around $9 for adults and less for seniors, kids, and military personnel. (Prices are from 2018, but they don’t tend to change much year to year.) You can often get discounts for purchasing tickets online ahead of time, or with a postcard coupon if you join their mailing list. The postcard usually also has a coupon for a free shopping bag, so it’s worth joining the mailing list if you plan to go back next year.
Length of Time
This will take you a few hours to most of the day, depending on how quickly you stroll through the booths and how many exhibitors are at the show. (We’ve noticed some cities or some years bring bigger or smaller shows, but they’re always enjoyable regardless of size. We haven’t spotted a predictable pattern in the sizes, so we just go with the mindset that we’ll enjoy whatever we find.)
Regardless of which show you attend, we highly recommend getting there close to opening time because the event will get more crowded as the day goes on. If you’re going to a particularly popular show, such as the one in San Jose over Thanksgiving weekend, you’ll save some time in line by buying your tickets online ahead of time.
Wheelchair Access
Accessibility will depend on the venue, of course, but every show we’ve seen has been in a large public event center, convention center, or the indoor part of the county fairgrounds, so it’s always been wheelchair-accessible in our experience.
The event is large, so if you have any kind of mobility challenges, balance/stability issues, or pain with too much walking, we definitely recommend bringing a cane, walker, wheelchair, or scooter, depending on what works best for you. For context, it’s more walking and standing than a typical trip to the mall, but much less than a day at Disneyland.
Each vendor’s booth varies somewhat in its accessibility because the layout is up to the exhibitor. Some have wide open spaces and some pack more tables into the same square footage, unfortunately leaving less maneuvering room for mobility devices. We’ve found that electric mobility scooters (especially the larger four-wheeled kind) have a harder time in this setting; wheelchairs are much more maneuverable in the sometimes-tighter spaces. Walkers or canes can navigate easily too.
FYI, a few booths also have high enough display cases that it can be challenging to see the merchandise from a low seated position. (This is where it helps to have a sidekick who can reach things for you.) It’s not a big enough problem to keep you from enjoying the event on your own, though. Most things are visible, and most of the artists or fellow shoppers will gladly help if you need it. Just ask!
Vision & Hearing
There would be a lot for someone with limited vision to enjoy here. The food booths often offer tasting samples, the teas and candles smell nice, and most of the textile or jewelry crafts can be as easily felt as seen. Some of the craft booths sell wind chimes, folk music CDs, and other sound-oriented goodies. It’s also possible to pick up most of the merchandise to look at it up close, so someone with limited but functional vision could navigate and enjoy the show independently. All the booths are laid out in aisles, which are marked by overhead flag signs. The layout of each individual booth is different, as mentioned above, and there are no tactile or audio markers to help with wayfinding, so a person who’s blind would need a companion to help navigate this setting.
Music is a much less prominent part of the show, compared to the visual arts and specialty foods, so someone who is deaf could easily enjoy the Harvest Festival without missing out on much. Because of the busy nature of the show, someone who uses hearing aids may have trouble filtering out the background noise at times, so if this applies to someone in your family, please remember to get their attention before speaking to them and be close enough for them to hear you clearly.
Sensory Processing
This is definitely a high-sensory experience, but I enjoy it anyway. I always wear earplugs here, and we are careful to go early in the morning to take advantage of the lower crowds. (This helps in two ways — lower sensory busyness for me and fewer crowds in which to maneuver the wheelchair for my mom.) In terms of visual and auditory input, it’s a little bit busier than a trip to the mall. There’s a lot going on in each booth, but it’s exciting artsy stuff that’s fun to look at, and you can just choose not to go in any booth that may feel overwhelming. There are a few musicians who walk around playing the ukulele or washboard or harmonica, which can be loud, but they pass quickly and there are only a couple throughout the whole show. (If you want to enjoy the stage shows, sit near the back so you’re farther from the often-too-loud speakers.) If you like to touch things, you’ll find many lush fabrics, soft toys, beautifully finished woods, smooth metals and jewelry, and other marvelous textures to explore.
If you’re especially triggered by smells, as I am, be aware that there are quite a few different smells to contend with here. Some of the crafts the vendors sell are handmade scented candles (none of which are lit, fortunately), soaps, foods, teas, seasonings and spices. Fortunately the smells are usually contained to the individual booths (apparently by magic, because the booths are open, but somehow it works), so it’s nothing like walking into (or even past) Bath & Body Works at the mall. I find that if I just don’t go in those booths, I’m fine. The venues are always enormous rooms with very high ceilings, and the fragranced vendors are a small fraction of the show, so it somehow evens out. There is also a “food court” area, but it’s always off in one corner or one side, so those cooking smells don’t pervade the room either.
Food
You can bring your own food or buy food there. There is an area to the back or the side where a half-dozen booths sell different kinds of food for lunch or snacks. (These are not craft vendors; they’re part of the Harvest Festival itself and tend to be the same every year.) For example, there is usually a coffee & muffins booth, a salad booth, a chili & baked potato booth, a pasta booth, and a pulled pork or Philly cheesesteak sandwich booth. The food is usually made on-site but not always to order, so be careful about allergies. The people preparing it have very limited space and not much flexibility aside from whether or not to include certain toppings. Be patient with them.
These food booths are side-by-side, and then there’s a large area with cafeteria-style tables end-to-end where you can eat. This makes it easy for different members of your family to choose different foods and eat together. (Keep in mind that you pay at each booth, so if you want different types of foods, you’ll each need to stand in line for yourself.) The tables are also an easy place to eat your own food from home if you brought it (I’ve never seen signs restricting it) or to just take a break if you need one.
As with most events, the lines for food can get long at peak times, so plan ahead if you can and have lunch a little earlier or little later than average and you’ll be fine.
Would we go back?
Of course! It’s a tradition for us at this point, but it’s also just really fun to see the creativity and variety on display each year. Pack your earplugs, wake up early, and go enjoy the Harvest Festival when it comes to your area. It’s sure to make you smile!
