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Appearances by a children’s performer, a community-wide food drive and a children’s festival will show the bounty of the harvest.
Harvest Week activities will be presented Nov. 1-6 at the Johnstown Children’s Museum in the Heritage Discovery Center, 201 Sixth Ave. in the Cambria City section of Johnstown, and at offices of First Commonwealth Bank.
“We are very excited and proud to continue our support in the Johnstown community through our partnership with JAHA and the Johnstown Children’s Museum,” said Orlando Fulgenzio, senior vice president of marketing and community relations at First Commonwealth.
“This will be a fun week of activities and events that focuses on one of the community’s greatest assets – our children.”
Festivities will kick off with a free concert by Emmy Award-winning children’s performer Farmer Jason at 7 p.m. Nov. 1 at the children’s museum.
Farmer Jason is internationally known and an area favorite who has appeared at Johnstown music festivals and museums in 2005, 2008 and 2009.
When he plays in front of adults, he is Jason Ringenberg, front man for the rock country band Jason and the Scorchers.
As Farmer Jason, he wows the younger set with his entertaining, witty songs written in genres ranging from folk to zydeco.
“Jason is a great fit for our harvest theme,” said Shelley Johansson, director of communications for Johnstown Area Heritage Association. “He’s actually an organic farmer in Tennessee, and his love for the outdoors and for kids really shows in his music.
“His songs tend to be about growing food, animals, being outside and the environment,” she said.
While the concert is free and open to the public, it is requested that guests bring nonperishable food for a food drive that is being held throughout the week.
Also, two private concerts will be held Nov. 2 at area schools.
Farmer Jason will present a morning concert at Westmont Hilltop Elementary School and an afternoon show at Windber Elementary School.
“We estimate that about 1,100 children will get to enjoy a free Farmer Jason concert as part of this initiative, and we’re grateful to First Commonwealth for making it possible,” Johansson said.
“We’re excited about the food drive. The bank is our existing partner, and we went to them with the idea.”
A Harvest Week Food Drive will be held Nov. 1-6 at the children’s museum and the bank’s branch offices in Cambria and Somerset counties.
Nonperishable food will be collected at the museum and bank offices.
“This is being made possible by First Commonwealth,” Johansson said.
The food will benefit St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry and South Fork Food Pantry in Cambria County, and Helping Hands Food Pantry, Shade-Central City Food Pantry, Somerset Food Pantry and Windber Area Emergency Food Pantry in Somerset County.
Events will conclude with the Harvest Festival, which will be held from 1 to 4 p.m. Nov. 6 at Heritage Discovery Center.
“It will be all over the museum at different stations,” Johansson said.
“Last year, we had it for the first time for one day and had a lot of fun. Through First Commonwealth, we can expand it and take it into the community.”
Games at the festival will include candy corn bingo and harvest hula hoop and old-fashioned Americana games such as hoop-and-stick and ball-and-cup.
“These are games that children of early American settlers would do,” Johansson said.
Harvest-themed crafts will feature creating scarecrow signs, turkey hand puppets, leaf rubbings and cornhusk dolls.
Other activities will scarecrow building and story times.
Food activities will include decorating harvest sugar cookies and making butter.
Admission to the festival is free for JAHA members and $7 for nonmembers.
Nonperishable food items also are requested.
Information: 539-1889.
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