A customer makes her selections at a local vegetable grower’s farm stand at the 2017 Adirondack Harvest Festival in Westport. (Photo provided)

Two family-friendly fall festivals to close out the 2021 season are happening at Adirondack Experience in Blue Mountain Lake this month.

The Adirondack Harvest Festival is scheduled for Sunday. Organizers say the event will be a World War II Victory Garden-themed day of fun and festivities from noon to 4 p.m. This family-friendly day is in collaboration with Cornell Cooperative Extension and the 2021 Adirondack Harvest Festival Farm Week.

Scheduled activities for the day include Adirondack Experience curator and gardener-led tours of the museum’s seasonal Victory Garden. Visitors can learn how people at home during World War II supported the war effort by growing, canning and preserving their own foods since food was rationed during the war years.

School Programs Manager Christine Campeau will host a Story Time with Adirondack food-related tall tales and other anecdotes from the region along with fun garden activities.

Throughout the day, young visitors can challenge themselves with a Victory Garden-themed puzzle hunt. Visitors can also enter their homegrown zucchinis and try to win one of three prizes–Heaviest Zucchini, Weirdest Looking, and Best Carved. Visitors will also get a chance to guess the weight of the heaviest zucchini, and whoever wins will get a special prize. This event is included with general admission to the museum.

On Sept. 26, the museum’s annual Fallfest returns from 10 a.m to 4 p.m. This campus-wide celebration of the season will include fall crafts and games, apple-pressing and cider-tasting, pumpkin-painting and more.

Visitors will be able to experience fiber arts demonstrations, horse-drawn wagon rides around campus and the Utica Zoo Mobile. There will be live music throughout the day with Seth Warden and friends. Admission to museum and Fallfest will be free for Adirondack Park residents.