A fall semester “Garden Studio” course organized a Friday afternoon of food and festivities in the Elon Community Garden to celebrate the season.
By Brittany Barker ‘19
Pumpkins, music and foods of seasonal inspiration were shared Friday afternoon in the Elon Community Garden as Elon University students in an environmental studies course hosted the 6th Annual Pumpkin Festival.
Organizers said the Oct. 30, 2015, festival helped showcase the Elon Community Garden as a gathering place on campus. Fun activities such as live music and face painting, as well as corn hole and pumpkin carving, brought out the inner child in everyone who attended, regardless of age.
“It’s kind of a last hoorah before the days get darker and colder and the growing season ends,” said Elon senior Alyssa Adler, an environmental studies student manager of the Loy Farm and Community Garden from Massachusetts. “We also want to promote awareness of the Community Garden and get people out into our natural environment.”
Michael Strickland, who teaches the “Garden Studio” course that plans the annual event, said that holding the festival the night before Halloween provided an extra dose of zeal.
Elon Hillel, the Office of Sustainability and Eco-Reps, Odyssey Scholars, Alpha Phi Omega, Sierra Club, the Elon Community Garden Club, Kappa Alpha Omicron, the Department of Environmental Studies, the Center for Environmental Studies, Elon Academy, SGA’s Fun Fund and SPARKS supported the event.
“The Pumpkin Festival brings community members together,” said Elon senior Ellen Lana, an environmental studies major from Buffalo, New York. “We foster an incredibly relaxed, welcoming environment and are incredibly excited to see community members interacting in a different setting.”
Adler and Lana said that it is the little things that count for the festival. Some of the best moments are just having everyone come together and seeing the mix of astonishment and excitement on the faces of those who attend.
They said the Pumpkin Festival is a unique Elon tradition that enables students to celebrate the fall by reconnecting with each other through activities enjoyed by all members of the campus community.