First Great Gladstone Harvest Festival held

GLADSTONE, Mich. (WLUC) - The first ever Great Gladstone Harvest Festival brought live music, trick or treating, a pumpkin patch and a variety of activities to downtown Gladstone on Sunday.

The event is meant to provide a safe space for families to trick or treat while also getting more foot traffic into businesses.

“Get into the downtown businesses, see what Gladstone has to offer, see what all the fuss is about,” Downtown Ambassador Samantha Gaudino said. “Gladstone is really experiencing an upswing and we want to celebrate that and share that with the community. So get people in, give them a chance to wear their costumes an extra time and just enjoy a day out with their family.”

Attendees could participate in a variety of games and activities, including pumpkin painting at Saunders Point Brewing, sponsored by the Rapid River/Gladstone Kiwanis Club.

“We’re here, we’re just having fun, we’re walking around, seeing all our families, seeing all our friends, getting some pumpkins, we got a couple of them back at home, we’re trick or treating, we’re looking around,” Escanaba Area Public High School Freshman Braxton Bjorne said.

His favorite game?

“The Plinko board in front of Main Street, I got a free slice of pizza,” Bjorne said.

While this was the first Harvest Festival, the Gladstone Downtown Development Authority looks forward to putting on many more in the future.

“Going into next year we just hope to see it grow,” Gaudino said. “We hope to see some more businesses participating and hopefully getting more families out.”

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