This season, I wanted to take the kids to one of those farms with a ton of activities, not just our annual trip to Y Worry Farm, but one that has a ginormous corn maze, tons of slides, a jumping pillow, etc. Gaver Farm is an old favorite of ours as is Montpelier Farms. Sadly, since we last visited these places when Rainbow was a toddler, the pricing has shot up. As a family of five, we can’t afford to pay $10 or $12 or even $15 a person as an admission. Therefore, I was on the hunt for a relatively inexpensive fall festival, and I happened across the 14th Annual American Indian Festival. I had never heard of it before, and the place where it was being held, Patuxent River Park, is a park my family and I have visited several times. The area is beautiful, and the views of Jug Bay are gorgeous!
The day of the festival, I packed a picnic lunch for us, plus plenty of water. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm. There were signs directing us to the festival all along Croom Road and on Croom Station Road making the place easy to find. Even better, rangers and volunteers were directing traffic on the field, so parking was a cinch. Once we stepped out of the car, we could hear music, and Pebble spotted a woolly bear caterpillar in the grass. I picked the poor creature up before it could get squashed, and we deposited it in a patch of tall grass not being used for parking. The girls were super excited, and not sure where to start. The large teepee at the top of a hill beckoned, and we climbed up for a closer look. This gave us a good view of the festival’s layout, and there was so much to see and do!
Along the base of the hill, were several food trucks as well as a pavilion with picnic tables to eat at. It wasn’t lunchtime yet, and we’d brought a picnic, so we ignored that area for now. I’d told the girls we could try frybread later, after our lunch. We saw stations where one could try using a bow and arrow or throw a spear. A presenter over at a paddock looked to be giving a demonstration to a group of people seated on hay bales on how to ride a horse bareback. At another station, one could pay a few dollars to learn how to weave a small basket. Stormy lit up when she saw that station as she was eager to try her hand at this, but I didn’t think Pebble would have the patience for her to take the time to work on a craft like this. Instead, we saw Watkins Nature Center was present, and they had their table set up next to a red barn. At the time, they were giving a talk on one of the red tailed hawks they had brought. A turtle and snake were also present, the turtle actually taking a slow stroll on the grass under nearby tree being watching by a volunteer. The sight of animals drew my kids away from the weaving booth, and they watched the turtle and snake for a bit before asking if they could touch the animals. I was beyond shocked that they actually wanted to touch the snake, that was a first!
We continued our explorations, ignoring the tents where Native American goods were being sold, and circled the barn to find several tables set up with free crafts to try. My girls painted pictures on foam board, made corn husk dolls and God’s Eyes, which resemble dreamcatchers, and colored bookmarks. The volunteers for the corn husk dolls and the dreamcatchers were beyond wonderful! They patiently worked with each of my kids lending help as needed, teaching them slowly how to do the craft. Pebble needed a lot of help, and the volunteer basically made her her God’s Eye! All three girls brought their God’s Eyes home and have them hanging on their beds. They were so excited about the corn husk dolls, too and couldn’t wait to show their hard work off to their dad when we went home later in the day.
After crafting, my hands were full, and the gusts of wind meant my arms kept getting dots of paint from the girls’ paintings all over my arms. We walked to the car where I left the crafts, and snagged the picnic cooler. We ate lunch sitting on hay bales outside the circle where Native American dances were being performed. Stormy kept saying it was too loud and too crowded, but both Rainbow and Pebble were fascinated. They loved seeing the variety of costumes, hearing the bells on the costume jingle, and even Stormy became interested when she saw a child out there doing some of the dances. We ran into that same child a little later in a line, and he turned out to be the same age as Stormy.
After lunch, all three girls made a beeline for the pony rides. It was $3 apiece, and they had to wear helmets to ride. Stormy was in heaven and didn’t want her turn to end, Rainbow was also thrilled, but Pebble ended up scared of the big animals. She did one circuit of the yard, and then asked to get down. The horses were too big for her… Near the pony rides, I spotted another demonstration getting started, this one on how to start fire from scratch. It was amazing how fast he got a flame going just by rubbing a stick on another piece of wood. Pebble got bored as did Rainbow, but both Stormy and I made them stay till the end. It was impressive!
By this point in the day, the girls were starting to crash. I suggested we go get that frybread I’d promised them. Sadly, the line for the native foods food truck was seriously long, and not moving fast. We tried to wait in line, but after ten minutes, I pulled them and we wandered into a tent selling a variety of beaded goods. Instead of frybread, each girl got a small bracelet to wear, a good memory of the day. We left the festival behind, and returned to our car. There, I drove us the short distance over to the Natural Play Area to run around and burn steam before we headed home. It was a great learning experience for the kids, and they seemed to love every minute of our day out. I plan to try to take them again next year, weather and job permitting. Happy trails!
