Harvest Moon rises in City Park
Parkersburg resident Jocelyn Hendrickson, 8, reaches to pet an alpaca from Alpaca Run Farm Sunday during the Harvest Moon Festival at Parkersburg City Park. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Debbie Clark of Last Leaf Designs adjusts a price sign on the hand-painted items she brought to the Harvest Moon Festival Sunday at Parkersburg City Park. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Amy White and her son Fischer look at decorative items Sunday during the Harvest Moon Festival at Parkersburg City Park. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Parkersburg resident Cara Gainer, left, and her mom Tammy look at a crafter’s items Sunday during the Harvest Moon Festival at Parkersburg City Park. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Parkersburg resident Jocelyn Hendrickson, 8, reaches to pet an alpaca from Alpaca Run Farm Sunday during the Harvest Moon Festival at Parkersburg City Park. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Debbie Clark of Last Leaf Designs adjusts a price sign on the hand-painted items she brought to the Harvest Moon Festival Sunday at Parkersburg City Park. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Amy White and her son Fischer look at decorative items Sunday during the Harvest Moon Festival at Parkersburg City Park. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
Parkersburg resident Cara Gainer, left, and her mom Tammy look at a crafter’s items Sunday during the Harvest Moon Festival at Parkersburg City Park. (Photo by Evan Bevins)
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PARKERSBURG -- City Park was filled with crafty individuals, music and food Saturday and Sunday for the annual Harvest Moon Festival.
"We've come about every year," Parkersburg resident Susan Hornbeck said as she walked through the park pavilion with her sister, Kelly Osborn, on Sunday. "(I) just like to see what the vendors have to offer -- and the kettle corn."
"It's just always nice to see what local people in the community can come up with creative-wise," Osborn added.
The sisters weren't alone in shopping for Christmas gifts, jewelry, seasonal decorations and more. Bartlett resident Debbie Clark of Last Leaf Designs said she saw a lot of traffic and buyers for her hand-painted products.
"It's been real good for us," she said. "People are all friendly."
While Clark has set up at the festival multiple times, it was Marietta resident Bill Richards' first experience and just his second show overall. He offered a variety of crafted wooden items under the sign CherryWood Cottage Woodworking.
"I don't call it a hobby. It's not a business," Richards said. "It's fun, what I do."
Belpre resident Cindy Eaton hadn't been to the festival in a while, but set up a table for Cindy's Crafts, her home-based business, because she wanted to do a local show and had an open spot in her schedule.
"The people that put it on have been very helpful," she said.
The Harvest Moon Festival is a fundraiser for the Wood County Recreation Commission. Attendance figures were not immediately available Sunday evening, but commission Director Andy Hartleben said it was an "awesome" weekend.
"Saturday was a really good day. We had a lot of people," he said. Rain and wind caused some issues Sunday, but "it really cleared up there in the afternoon."
After attending the West Virginia State Honey Festival at the park in August, Julie and Frank Wolfe of Parkersburg came back for the Harvest Moon Sunday. Wolfe said she appreciated all the free activities for children, including train rides and inflatables.
Hartleben said he's glad the festival doesn't charge anything after admission for activities like that.
"We want to add more inflatables and stuff for the kids," he said.
Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.