Harvest Day draws families to downtown Algonquin

Fall festivals are ambivalent about the weather: If it's too warm, it doesn't feel like fall; if it's too cold, people stay home.

The Downtown Algonquin Partnership dodged these very problems Saturday, when the group of downtown businesses hosted Old Time Country Harvest Day in a lot at South Harrison and Washington streets.

This year, the festival fell somewhere between the two extremes: A cool breeze maintained the fall atmosphere but didn't keep a modest crowd from stopping by.

In past years, unpredictable October weather has kept crowds away.

"It's getting better," said Alan Howard of River Art Studio and Gallery, one of the businesses in the partnership. "I think if it had been sunnier, it would be a little bit better."

Among this year's attractions were a farmers market, an Irish dancing performance, a scarecrow-making event for kids and children's games.

Diane Hamm of Journey to Greendom in Barrington sold soap, shampoo, bug repellent and other items made from natural products. Hamm and her daughter, Courtney, sold their goods all summer at the farmers market, which was held for the last time on Saturday.

"It was a nice turnout even though it was a little nippy," Hamm said. "It was a nice day to say goodbye and see all the kids."

At the next stall, Edee Becker of Nonny's Market in Ingleside peddled chrysanthemums and homemade zucchini bread.

"I think it was really nice - a lot of things for families," Becker said of the festival.

Alan Howard and his wife, Debbie, showed off the prizewinning sea horse they made at the River Art Studio. To create the piece, the couple cut off the legs of a carousel horse, replaced them with foam sculpted to look like coral and shaped putty into bony ridges along the body of the seaweed-green horse.

"It was a great experience," Debbie Howard said. "We learned so much."

Country Harvest Day wasn't the only game in town Saturday. History-minded residents also could catch a bus to the Algonquin Cemetery for the historic commission's seventh annual Historic Cemetery Walk.