For Paula Gannon, the Newton Harvest Fair revolves around one word: tradition.

“I love tradition,” said Gannon, director of Newton Cultural Development and a Newton resident of 25 years. “I love seeing repetition year over year of familiar aspects of what we do in the community.”

The annual Newton Harvest Fair celebrated 50 years of tradition last weekend at Newton Centre Green, which transformed into a carnival Saturday and a full-scale fair Sunday. The fair, organized by Newton Cultural Development, typically draws more than 3,000 people from Newton and surrounding areas, according to the city.

On its golden anniversary, this year’s fair showcased nearly 200 booths representing local businesses, artisans, volunteer groups, city departments and local election candidates. It also offered pumpkin decorating, food and two stages featuring local musicians.

Gannon, who has been involved in organizing the Harvest Fair for eight years, said the fair’s purpose is to celebrate the change of the seasons and encourage Newton residents to engage with their community.

“It is a reason for the community to come together in thankfulness and in gratitude,” Gannon said, as well as to recognize “the variety of residents that we have, the diversity in our people, our businesses, and just to come out and have fun on a fall day.”

Newton’s two-day Harvest Fair includes a carnival for the kids. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

Lifelong Newton resident Susan Paley was in college when the Harvest Fair started in the mid-1970s, and she said she has attended it “pretty much since day one.”

The fair in the early years was “a really big deal,” she said. Not many of Newton’s villages hosted village days at the time, so the Harvest Fair “was the one time where people got together in this sort of informal outdoor type of event,” she said. “Even now, it’s still the biggest of the outdoor events.”

The Harvest Fair has only expanded over the past 50 years, and now Newton Centre becomes “crazily alive” each year on the day of the fair, Paley said.

She estimates she’s been to 25 Harvest Fairs, between attending for fun and helping run the booths for Village Bank until her retirement last year, and now Newton Neighbors, a community nonprofit of which she’s currently president. This year was one of the few fairs she’s had to miss.

Paley said she loves the opportunity to meet new people, run into old friends and encourage residents to volunteer with Newton Neighbors.

“I’m never one who stands at their booth,” she said. “I’m always running around and talking to people and seeing what else is happening at other booths.”

A band plays covers by Journey on the corner of the Newton Centre Green during the 2024 Newton Harvest Fair. Photo by Bryan McGonigle

Marcia Cooper, a Newton resident of almost 50 years and president emerita of environmental advocacy nonprofit Green Newton, said attending community events such as the Harvest Fair is not just enriching but “good therapy, just like exercise, music, art.”

She said she’s attended at least 20 Harvest Fairs. She would bring her children to the carnival when they were little and more recently helped run GreenEXPO, a section of the fair in its 12th year with booths promoting sustainability and green initiatives.

“All through the years, it’s always been on my calendar,” she said.

Gannon said the Harvest Fair is special because residents can enjoy it no matter who they are.

“It can touch everyone at every age and every different aspect of life, from very young to our older adults,” she said.

Janine Bempechat, a Newton resident of 34 years, started bringing her children to the Harvest Festival when they were in preschool. Even now that her kids are in their thirties, Bempechat said she attended Sunday to “soak in the fun atmosphere.”

“I love how it brings everyone out. It’s just so colorful,” she said. “I think it’s important because it continues to solidify community.”

In addition to bringing the community together, the Harvest Fair is an important outlet for local businesses, food vendors and artisans.

“When you show up to a fair like this in person, people can see you, talk to you, touch the goods, see you making things,” said Monique Leonard, who knits and crochets products for her business, Windswept Designs.

This year was Leonard’s second time selling her handmade bags, earrings and other accessories at the Newton Harvest Fair.

“I love that it’s really upbeat and it brings together so many people from so many different cultures,” said Leonard, who lives in Walpole.

Sarah Fendrick, a member of the Newton Cultural Council, moved to Newton about 10 years ago and has attended the fair for the past few years. She said she enjoys being around the community and experiencing the city’s rich arts and culture scene.

“It’s just like seeing the tapestry of Newton in one place,” she said.

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This story is part of a partnership between the Newton Beacon and the Boston University Department of Journalism.