First annual Harvest Fest in Salisbury draws a crowd

A handful of very well-behaved llamas kept people of all ages entertained. (CTV/Alana Pickrell)

Saturday brought forward perfect conditions for Salisbury’s first-ever annual Harvest Festival at Highland Park.

Cars filled the parking lot and lined the roads as families and community members of all ages came together for good food, live music and different activities.

“This is something that is for our residents to celebrate, to come together as a community, to see friends and family,” said Mayor Robert Campbell.

“We had a Lions Club breakfast this morning that we had hundreds of people at gathering, so harvest is about gathering friends and family and celebration, so I really want our community to celebrate as one and come together and enjoy all the things we have to be thankful for.”

Saturday’s event came on the heels of Salisbury’s annual Pumpkinfest Friday night which Campbell says brought out thousands of visitors from around the southwest region.

The day featured a local musician, a corn boil and barbeque, horse wagon rides, llamas and yard games.

The goal was to make it accessible and fun for everyone, according to Campbell.

“We want to make things affordable for families,” he said.

“We’re very much, in Salisbury, about families and friends. If you go to the beer garden you’ve got to buy that, but the corn boil is free, the hay wagon rides are free, we have some candy apples over there that are free. Again, we like to do these things to create an experience for families.”

April and Doug Hamilton moved to Salisbury about a year-and-a-half ago in search of rural living and as a way to get away from the city traffic.

They attended Harvest Fest on Saturday and said the event really helped capture what Salisbury is all about.

“We were just sitting down at the picnic table and three ladies sat down with us and you get talking, find out where we’re from and it’s perfect,” said April.

Adding, “the community has been so welcoming and warm to us and I just feel it’s important to become involved in the community, show our support for the community and it’s just such a wonderful day to be out here.”

“Look at the water, the beautiful sunshine, good venue, good music, good food, local sausage, so it’s really good,” added Doug.

Campbell says Harvest Fest has been an event he’s been talking about ever since he became mayor and it was an idea that the rest of the town staff and volunteers jumped at.

Overall, he says it’s important to continue to offer more events as the community grows to bring residents together as well as help put Salisbury on the map for people outside of the town.

“We have so much to be thankful here for,” he said.

“We’re an agricultural farming community as well and I always thought ‘why are we not doing it here with all the agriculture that we have here’ and we have again, harvest is about being thankful, the bounty and we just have so much to be thankful for.”

Campbell says there’s no question on if Harvest Fest will be back again next year. He says it will be an annual event for the town that will just continue to grow year after year.

Click here for a photo gallery of the Harvest Fest. 

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