NAUGATUCK — After the summer comes the harvest.
The 29th annual Harvest Moon Festival will take place on Naugatuck’s Town Green this weekend.
The festival, which is organized and run by Boy Scout Troop 102, will feature crafts, musical entertainment, food vending, and Troop 102’s traditional fried dough booth, Boy Scout Troop 102 committee member Barbara DeBisschop explained.
According to a press release, the festival will feature over 100 different vendors.
Harvest Moon Festival Committee Chair Ray Blum said the festival tries to promote as many local, handmade crafts as possible. There will also be more well known brands, such as Avon and Mary Kay, at the festival.
Along with the vendors are nonprofit organizations, such as the Phoenix Stage Company, the Visiting Nurses Association, and Griffin Hospital.
Blum said that Griffin Hospital will provide free screening services during the festival and the police explorers will offer child identification fingerprinting.
The event will also feature activities for children and demonstrations of scouting activities by the Boy Scouts of America throughout the festival.
Amazing Dance and Fitness will lead a Zumba demonstration on Friday at 6:30 p.m.
The festival will also feature music on Saturday. DJ Seth Carley will play music from 11 a.m. until 3 p.m. Then Dave Clarke will perform live music from 5 until 7 p.m.
The event runs 11 a.m. through 8 p.m. Friday and 9 a.m. through 8 p.m. on Saturday on the Town Green. This event will take place rain or shine.
“It is better in the sunshine, but we hold it in the rain,” DeBisschop said.
Blum explained that Troop 102 took over managing the festival approximately 15 years ago from the town. He said that the town was considering discontinuing the event due to lack of interest, but that the troop wanted to continue it.
“They saw an opportunity, rather than let it die, to get in there and market the Harvest Moon Festival and help the vendors,” Blum said
Troop 102 tries to make the Harvest Moon Festival as successful as possible each year because it is the troop’s biggest fundraiser, DeBisschop said.
She explained that the Boy Scouts will camp out on the green overnight to guard the booths that are set up at the festival.
For more information on the Harvest Moon Festival, call (203) 490-6463.
