Autumn Harvest Festival 2025
Imagine Minnesota — the most beautiful state in the nation. High atop the windswept bluffs of Minnesota's very best city is Saint Paul's magical neighborhood, Dayton's Bluff. Deeper still, within the swirling magicness of Dayton's Bluff: its emerald heart—the Mounds Park Community Garden.
Now, consider Minnesota's most fabulous season: That's right, Autumn. The crispy golden-hour sun dapples tantalizingly through the lazy dancing leaves of oak, maple, and ash. The warm sunset finally soothes dusklike, coaxing you toward a crackling bonfire just yonder. Mix into this intoxicating whorl of sights and sounds: a buffet of succulent foods, quenching beverages, decadent desserts, and a neighborhood of friends cheering your arrival.
You are dressed, of course, as a hot dog.
Was it a dream? A fantasy?
Close. It was the rare overlapping of the very best things this world has to offer. The Mounds Park Community Garden's Autumn Harvest Festival was a sultry afternoon of delicious food, games, crafts, and a solid hang with exceptionally interesting people.
2025 was the garden’s second annual harvest festival. This year featured three big competitions with prizes donated by our generous friends at Brunson’s Pub. Contests included:
An apple-eating contest
A dessert competition
A Halloween costume fashion show
Attendees brought food donations totalling 140 pounds, which we donated to the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center food shelf.
And then there was the passing of the Golden Trowel, which I think will become a regular Harvest Festival tradition. The Golden Trowel is given to a garden member who went the extra mile and got creative in helping to grow the garden. That’s one of the many great things about our garden: If you have a vision and you can put in the work, you can accomplish big things.
The 2025 recipient of the Golden Trowel, Lea Dooley, had taken the initiative to turn plot 26 into a communal plot for growing food and flowers. By the end of the season, she’d plugged it full of garlic, which will slumber over the winter and, in mid-July, will be ready to harvest. What will we do with all the garlic? We’ll save some to replant next autumn. The rest will be cured, and who knows, maybe we’ll have a garlic festival? (You’re invited, of course.)
I have chronic anxiety organizing big events like this. There are a lot of moving parts, things to organize, and supplies to fetch. Are there enough forks and napkins? Do people have enough places to sit? What if it rains? During the event, I’m in near panic mode because I desperately want everyone who came to feel seen and welcome. And also I’m lugging around that stupid camera, getting in everyone’s face to capture the moment.
If we pulled it off, which I think we did, it’d be thanks to the hard work and patience of our wonderful volunteers. They made the festival a simply magical event. They brought together folks from all over the neighborhood and Saint Paul for a splendid autumn evening in the garden. If this isn’t the very best event to put a bow on the growing season and usher in Minnesota’s magnificent winter, it’ll do until a better one shows up.
Here’s looking forward to next autumn and another fabulous harvest festival.
