HarvestFest ’25 Review

HarvestFest is an annual event put on by Marietta’s Parks and Rec department. It’s a family-friendly affair with costume contests, pie-eating contest, bouncy houses, games, and of course the arts and crafts market! I’d first heard about it from the Marietta the Gathering meet-and-greet. Since I love MtG and their organizers, I wanted to give HarvestFest a shot!

Applications

Applications for their Arts and Crafts Market opened in August and you could apply online, through email, or… snail mail? One thing to note about Marietta’s Parks and Rec events, is that they’ll charge their booth fee, $100, once they receive your application, however this doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve been accepted as a vendor. I… never realized this and always assumed that having my card charged meant I was accepted ^_^;; Guess I’ve had good luck. Acceptances will go out later and if you didn’t make they cut they’ll refund their fee.

My confirmation email came in mid September with a second email detailing booth placement, load-in, and load-out shortly afterwards. It was all very similar to Marietta the Gathering, which is to be expected. I may be a bit bias since I’m experienced with how MtG goes, but I felt Marietta’s communications were all very thorough and easy to understand.

HarvestFest

I set out for Marietta Square just as the sun was rising. We were allowed to set up as early as 5:30 AM, so it was no surprise about half the vendors were already there when I arrived around 7:15. Staff allow us to drive into the Square and direct us to our assigned spots. Once we’re done unloading, we’re asked to drive our car to the free parking lot and then return to finish setting up.

Chalktober happened just the weekend before, so there were still gorgeous chalk drawings on the streets where we set up our tents. I felt a little bad about setting up on top of them, but chalk is more resilient than I thought! I find it curious that both Chalktober and Harvest Festival are held in quick succession, but I guess they’re able to draw their own crowds?

I surprised myself and had my tent set up by 8:30! So I took a short break to Cool Beans Coffee Roasters for a ham cheese croissant and a pumpkin pie latte. I got really lucky and was able to put in my order without a line. I made it back to my tent around our official start time, 9 AM, and already there was a slow trickle of visitors. I got the sense many of them were nearby residents who probably had a Saturday morning routine of visiting the square, there were quite a few dog walkers and joggers.

The pace began to pick up after 10 and traffic was fairly steady throughout HarvestFest, with perhaps a small peak in the early afternoon. Even when it was time to tear down there were still passerby in Marietta Square. There were lots of families, dogs and children. I even saw a cockatiel and a cat! Though, I would say sales were fairly slow for me considering the amount of people. Fear not, I was able to make back almost four times the booth fee, and I knew going in that a general audience event may be risky. My hope was a Halloween adjacent event would be good for my reptilian pieces, but maybe they’re just a tad too cute and not quite enough spooky to really capture that spirit.

A few folks recognized me from other Cobb County events, like Mead & Metal, Marietta the Gathering, etc. At least one of my purchases came from someone who said she regretted not having gotten it at one of those markets, so repetition can work! I did have quite a few back-to-back shirt sales in the first half, and overall I noticed I my have had fewer customers but they were larger purchases. My theory is that perhaps a plethora of nearby free goodies may have made my smaller items less appealing, but I’m grateful that most parents made sure their children understood that my items were for sale, not for free! Even when it came to my candy cauldron, people were really polite and usually asked to take some first.

There was a consistent bustle of noise as you’d expect of an outdoor event. In the morning you could hear sport announcers from the big screen, and later in the day there was a DJ on the main stage playing top forty hits. During the Touch-a-Truck showing you could also hear a lot of honks from across the square. That was about when I put in my hearing protection, haha. I did appreciate though, despite being directly behind the stage, at no point were the speakers overwhelming.

Tear down officially started around 5 PM but I did start cleaning up a little early because I wanted to make sure I’d be ready when cars were allowed into our space at 5:30. A couple of my friends, Andy, Marie, and their son Isaac, had stopped by and were able to help me collapse my tent. Again, I did surprise myself with how quickly I packed up, I think all the markets have allowed me to practice my speed. The city hall parking lot they recommended for us to use was only a couple blocks away so getting back didn’t take too long. I was able to load my car back up and take off without much trouble.

Billie’s Vendor Rating

Overall, I’d consider HarvestFest a success, even if I didn’t meet the same sales numbers as Marietta the Gathering. There are a lot of events to compete with in October so maybe it can’t be helped. Compared to Little 5 Points Halloween Parade, I’d say HarvestFest felt less stressful for me since it’s closer and a single day show. The back-to-back outdoor setup for both days was the main reason I was hesitant to return to L5P Halloween Parade, it takes a physical toll. While L5P certainly has the larger event, it means both more crowds and more vendors. Interestingly, my sales numbers for HarvestFest came just under the average of both L5P Halloween Parade days.

Foot Traffic	⭐⭐⭐⭐
Attendee Vibes	⭐⭐⭐
Restrooms	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Pokémon GO	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Organization	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

HarvestFest went well, but whether I add it to my regular October rotation depends on what else is happening that month. I think if anything, I’ve learned over the last couple of years it’s really easy to overbook October and I need to be more careful about burnout.