Courtesy of the City of Fairfax Parks & Recreation

Blanca Acevedo, staff writer

Rides, food, crafts and entertainment may be found at local fall festival.

Today the city of Fairfax, Virginia is hosting the 38th annual Fall Festival. The event will be held on from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. with free admission. It is meant to be a family friendly environment for a diverse public demographic.

What started as a simple marketplace exhibiting wares in 1976 has grown to include a large variety of vendors and goods and lots of cultural performances.

“We have incorporated more entrainment to the event among the years. We used to have only two stages of entertainment and now we have four,” Leslie Herman, the event and facility superintendent from the city of Fairfax, said. “We always had a main stage and a children stage, however, we have added a festival stage with lots of cultural performances and a country stage. Therefore, we have incorporated that genre of music to our event as well. Another cool implement that serve variation within our products is that our main stage will be featuring craft beers while the country stage will be featuring domestic beers.”

Approximately 500 crafts and food vendors will be participating within the streets of Fairfax.

“In summary, the criteria of the festival guidelines is: (1) all crafters has to be handmade, (2) you have to be a non profit organization in order to participate, and (3) keep in mind that we only have a very small selective amount of businesses other than the ones that are in the festival route, which are allow to participate,” Herman said.

Visitors can find crafts such as wood and pottery to photography, fine arts and jewelry.

There will be many activities to enjoy such as: musical entertainment dispersed among four stages, carnival rides, artisan displays and a variety of food options–for example Greek, Korean, and pho.

“We just try to keep the quality of the show as high as possible so that is interesting and appealing to the folks that are there walking through the vendors,”Herman said.

The event is coordinated to supply recreation for all ages. It includes children’s corner- operating with face & hair painting, interactive diversion with beer garden, amusement rides, All American Lumberjack Show & Camp, competition business Expo and much more.

One factor about this year’s festival is that city and non-city businesses are eligible to engage in it. Attendance is expected to be between 35,000 to 45,000 people.

“The purpose of the event is to introduce folks to the city of Fairfax, downtown area, bringing economic mentality to our downtown business district and highlighting the city of Fairfax as we enter the beginning of fall season,” Herman said.

Overall, the event is designed to create opportunities and exposure for business entrepreneurs, young artisans exhibiting their crafts, spread the word about different organizations, while mingling with locals.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Event Date: Oct. 11, 2014 (Rain Date Oct. 12)
• Where: Historic downtown Fairfax
• Free Transportation Schedule: Shuttle buses will run 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. from both pick-up locations: George Mason University and Fairfax High School
• Sponsored by Fairfax City Mall, WATCH-FM radio station (97.1) among others.
• Combination of both entertainment and shopping
• Make sure to check out and complete the Fall Festival survey after attending. By completing the form you will be entering into a contest to win a Mini IPad!