Annual Allentown festival ready to go off all weekend

By Jessica Ercolino, Staff Writer
   ALLENTOWN — For borough residents, October not only means Halloween is around the corner, the Fest is just up the road.
   The borough’s 26th annual Harvest Festival, hosted by the Allentown Business Community Association (ABCA), is being held this weekend. From 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, locals can peruse vendors, experience history and celebrate autumn in downtown Allentown. The event — taking place on Main and Church streets and in Heritage Park — is free to the public and will be held rain or shine.
   Greg and Irene Lynch, owners of Down Home Country, on Church Street, have been the festival’s co-chairs for the last seven years.
   ”This has been a longstanding tradition in Allentown because it’s a good way for the businesses to showcase the best of their best,” Mrs. Lynch said.
   Heather Saracen, owner of The Sweetest Things Candy Store on Main Street, and entertainment chair for the event, agreed.
   ”Overall, it’s a great experience,” she said. “It’s a nice festival, people love it and the crowds are great.”
   Ms. Saracen said her store uses the profits from the Harvest Festival to fund the store’s Halloween Night, where local children visit the shop to pick out whatever they’d like for free.
   Mrs. Lynch said the festival brings the community together with business, church, community service and social groups all participating. The ABCA funds the event through vendor fees, she said, and there are more than 100 booths this year.
   The ABCA “blankets the entire middle part of the state” when it comes to advertising the event, she added, with word of the Harvest Festival reaching from the shore to the Delaware River, to New Brunswick and down into Burlington County. The association also advertises on New Jersey tourism Web sites and in local media outlets.
   She noted years of practice have made the festival go smoothly, but months of planning also are contributed.
   ”We start in February and it’s a group effort that honestly takes all year long,” she said. “We have one break from Harvest Fest — the winter holidays — and then it starts all over again.”
   The festival will feature an antique car show, Civil War camp and military tactics demonstration, vintage baseball game between the Flemington Neshanocks and New York Gothams and a living history impression. There also will be pony rides and a petting zoo for children, and live entertainment from Jet Weston, Dick Groton, Vinny Smith, Freewood Kids Band, Past Times and more.
   Main Street will be closed at 6:30 a.m. Saturday for vendors to set up. Church Street will be open. Parking is available on the streets, at Allentown High School on High Street, the municipal building and Heritage Park lots. People can park at Allentown Methodist Church on Church Street on Saturday and at The Bank on Main Street on Sunday.
   For a schedule of Harvest Festival events, visit the ABCA’s Web site at www.allentownnj.com.