2009 Bridgeport
Fall Festival
Herb Lindberg
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Part 1 of 4
| Fall Festival is
an exciting day of fun and learning for the whole family. Children painted more than one hundred pumpkins and took them home with them.
As many children also had their faces painted with Halloween pictures.
Music filled the air
from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., as Bite the Bullet played on a stage area next to the Historic
Barn, and Rick Toles (Alkali) and Emily Roberts Brockway each wandered the Bridgeport area
playing their violins. Mountain Man (and Woman) campers told stories and answered questions from their several tents set up the night before in the grassy area next to the Visitor Center. They also explained the workings of and demonstrated their muzzle loading long rifles, which were used in their hunting and trapping livelihood. This year several long bows were also on display, and children shot at a target with one of the smaller bows. Meanwhile, others in the Mountain Man group took children and adults on wagon rides along the Virginia Turnpike, but weren't allowed to cross the covered bridge as in previous years. (The state has been slow in their safety inspection and certification of the bridge. We hope certification is completed in time for Spring Festival in April.) Food booths were bustling with as many as 800 visitors, serving hot dogs, chili, ice cream and other delights for the tummy.
All the normal park activities were also in full swing. Docents greeted visitors at the
information table, answered questions about gold-rush era wagons in the barn,
told the history and features of the covered bridge, demonstrated blacksmith techniques, and helped children of all ages pan for gold and bottle their treasure to take home with them.
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