Harvest Moon - The Ogden Wire

Taylor: Welcome to the Visit Ogden pilot podcast. My name is Taylor. I am the Director of Marketing and Communications with visit Ogden, and we have our marketing team here, and we have the Ogden Downtown Alliance. Here I am sitting next to Shane Osguthorpe, Creative Director of visit Ogden. What's up Shane?

Shane: Not much. How's it going?

Taylor: Pretty good. Chilling. We got Sydney pace here. How you doing? Sydney?

Sydney: Good, good.

Shaylee: Shaylee Stevens, chilling out, vibing out. Hey guys.

Taylor: And we have the Ogden downtown Alliance. Here we have Jessica Anderson and Cecily Kiss, right?

Cecily: Yes. Hi everyone. Excited to be here.

Taylor: Cool, cool. So, um, this is the first ever time that we've done this podcast and recorded it. We're super, super excited. The purpose of this podcast is to talk about all things Ogden and to give some really good information about Ogden events and happenings that people can use to enjoy their time up here.

Shane: Big one on the radar for this weekend, of course, Harvest Moon celebration. You guys, I know I was around back when the Harvest Moon celebration started, way, many, many moons ago, many harvest moons ago. Tell us what the event contains now. What can people look forward to at the Harvest Moon celebration in Ogden on 25th Street?

Jess: Yeah, the Harvest Moon celebration is Ogden largest annual tradition. Everyone looks forward to it every year. It's the third Saturday in September, and I think we're in our 23rd year this year. So like Shane said, it's been going on for two decades now, and it started with business owners on the street bringing people together to celebrate the end of summer and the beginning of fall, and it's grown so large now we're expecting over 30,000 attendees this year.

Shane: Wow. Well, now you guys are obviously famous for for presenting the Farmers Market in Ogden, and we know that that brings major crowds. A lot of people come down for that. What is, what makes Harvest Moon different than a typical farmers market? What can what's the big difference?

Jessica: Yeah, the farmers markets actually the morning portion of Harvest Moon until 2pm but after that, we have a ton of artisan vendors, fall themed activities for families and honestly, all ages. And then historic 25th Street, from Wall avenue to grant Avenue turns into a beer garden. So you can-

Shane: Like the good old days in Oregon when you could just walk around with your beer on the street. Okay-

Jess: Just browse everything Harvest Moon has to offer with a cold drink in your hand is something everyone looks forward to, and you only get one chance a year to do it.

Taylor: So tell us about the details of the beer garden a little more. Like, what do you need to do to enter? Who's gonna be there? What sort of breweries Do you have? Some local breweries coming in?

Cecily: We do, and we're so excited about it. We have Roosters, we have Utah, we have Wasatch Distributing and Golden Beverage coming in. So there is a type of beer for everyone. The greatest part about it is this is a free event for all ages. Now, because we don't want a bunch of kiddos running around drinking on the streets, you will have to provide your ID at an ID check in station, and you'll receive a wristband, and then you'll be able to purchase beer from any of our beer tents along historic 25th Street, and you'll have a wide variety of beers to choose from.

Taylor: Nice.

Shane: Okay, so I've got my beer in my hand with my wristband on walk me through some of the activities that I'm going to be walking past or participating in. If I walk up and if I walk up and down 25th street during Harvest Moon.

Cecily: So this is my absolute favorite event of the year, and it's because it's just chock full of so much stuff to do. If you've been in the past, you've probably noticed that we have some fall themed crafts and activities this year. We have totally amped that up in the municipal Park is going to be full of 36 different community booths and sponsors that will each be offering a different craft or activity that is for all ages, but it will be fall themed. So we'll have everything from pumpkin painting to spooky fishing to create your own masquerade masks to learn about the moon phases. We'll also have performances in the park by Imagine music and Ogden Nature Center. And then we'll have entertainment on our main stage on Lincoln Avenue all day long and into the evening. So. We have photo ops galore, including a 10 foot tall paper mache pumpkin that our team helped build. It took an entire weekend. I don't think I've ever been covered in so much glue and paper, but it's awesome and it's rad. And it's these things in our community and our committee coming together to support this festival and create these immersive experiences that really make it what it is. So you know, you can have your beer, you can be jamming out listening to some good music on the main stage. Walk over, do some crafts with your family in the park, grab a bite to eat at one of our food trucks. Stop and get your Instagram selfies at the photo ops, and then also new this year. This is really fun. I don't think I mentioned this yet. We're going to have a hay maze for kids, and there will be a super cute I Spy challenge within the hay maze for kids to take part in. So really, there's, there's just an autumn activity or experience around every corner, and it's the perfect way to enter into the fall season in downtown Ogden.

Shane: And it's really rare opportunity to experience 25th Street, like 25th Street like that in the evening, yeah, I mean farmers market in the morning. We're used to 25th Street kind of being closed and pedestrian only, but in the evening, something about the light at that time of year, off those buildings at that time of day, it's just a magical place to be.

Cecily: It's so beautiful, and it's so magical. And I feel like you get historic 25th Street from 1925 while you're getting historic 25th Street from 2025 you can see all of the history. You can feel the magic from throughout the years, and it really all comes together to create this amazing experience for attendees

Taylor: That's great, logistically. What about parking? What can people do to experience Harvest Moon best? Are there going to be entrances where people need to go through? What sort of stuff do you have any recommendations on timing? Are there any sort of events like, Are there any times where certain things are happening?

Cecily: Yeah, a lot to cover in that. So we can start with a little bit about the time frames. The event is from 10am until 9pm the fall produce market, or farmers market that everyone's used to, is going to be taking place from 10am to 2pm activities in the municipal Park will take place from 10am until 6pm and then the rest of the street festivities will be taking place until 9pm Jess, do you want to speak a little bit on our parking and-

Jess: Parking is always a hot button issue downtown, But as a reminder, the junction parking garages are always open, available free for people to use. And then any parking on the surrounding side streets isn't guaranteed, as it's limited, but it's also free. And then, as far as entrances go, we have four different entrances. So the main entrances you're going to find on Wall Avenue, in grant Avenue, and then there's also one on the south side of Lincoln Avenue and the north side of Lincoln Avenue. So if you want to get involved in the hay maze and check that out, I'd recommend going the grant Avenue entrance.

Taylor: Nice.

Cecily: Yeah. And if you're not looking to drive to the event, we will have free bike valet, and you can use public transportation. So OGX will drop you off right downtown. Great way to get down there, and then you can drink as many beers as you want without having to worry about driving home.

Taylor: Well, personally, what are some of your favorite experiences at Harvest Moon? I know last year you had some really great photo ops. Did you bring the kiddos down? What are you two looking forward to most this year?

Jess: An exciting thing that's returning this year, which was we saw its debut last year, is the rec room over at the crosswalk on the 100 block, which is wall avenue to Lincoln Avenue. That's returning with giant corn hole, giant ring toss. We're also going to have the Ogden curling club have three curling lanes over there in that area, so you guys can try your hand at curling and get ready for the Olympics. You've got enough time to get good leading up to that. And then one of my favorite things and pro tip for the adults in the room, if you head up to the rooftop of a ledge, you get a cool bird's eye view of the Harvest Moon Festival or celebration, and seeing how packed full it is of just people, vendors, all the activities. It's a really cool view. Awesome. What about you Cecily?

Cecily: I love it all, and I love the things like the rock climbing and the AX throwing, but I think when it really comes down to it, I am a foodie, so I am all about hitting up those food trucks and all of the local restaurants on 25th Street. It's. That's, I think that's my favorite. If I can have a beer and kettle corn and tacos and a cheeseburger and a lemonade and maybe some apple cider donuts in the same day, I'm living life. And that's not probably my favorite.

Jess: Not just our food trucks too, but back to Shane's point, to be on 25th street and have it lit up at night and sit down and do the patio dining experience with the businesses. I think about table 25 and sitting down with their string lights having dinner is just one of the highlights of the night, too. If you're wanting something a little more, sit down and dine with your friends rather than walking around. That's always an option too. Yeah.

Shane: Well, and it's a truly homegrown festival, it gives people a real taste of what Ogden is about. Really, it's a locals Festival, and locals love it, but visitors really can plug in and kind of catch our vibe by coming to it. I assume that's still the case. Yeah, a lot of great local musicians, I assume, will be taking the main stage. So if you want to see what the local Ogden music scene is like, it's probably a really good time to do that.

Jess: Yeah, we have our headliner for the night at 7:30pm It's singer songwriter Ethan Tucker. So we're excited he's been at the farmers market a couple times, but we're excited there's going to be music all day, from 10am until 9pm and we have at least 17 different entertainers and performers scheduled throughout the day.

Taylor: I think about mid September is one of the perfect times to experience harvest season in northern Utah. Oh, yeah, what changes when September rolls around? When it comes to the farmers, what sort of produce is available this time of year?

Jess: It's a great question. You know, peaches are at their peak in August and September. We see a lot of corn and squash, zucchini, lots of those leafier greens, potatoes,heartier-

Shane: Tomatoes, or local tomatoes are really looking good right now.

Cecily: Yeah, it's perfect soup season shopping, if you're trying to make a stew, if you are trying to, you know, make a hearty soup for your family. It's perfect. That's awesome. And I've even seen a few jack o lanterns come out already.

Jess: Yep, and we actually have so many pumpkins coming in. I don't know the exact number, but do you know?

Cecily: I do not exact numbers, but I know that one of our sponsors, CertaPro Painters, is bringing back the mini pumpkin painting for children in the park this year. And so they purchased 800 pumpkins, and then on top of that, Paul's patch donated three big bins of pumpkins that I just spent the last hour unloading into our trailer.

Jess: So yeah, pallets. When we say bins, we mean pallets packed full a trailer full of corn stalks, two full trailers full of pumpkins. It's been a lot logistically. This event is our most challenging of the year, but it has the biggest payoff to see everyone smiling and enjoying it.

Taylor: You bring the harvest to 25th Street, and you change the street, and you make it a beautiful event and festivity. It's-

Jess: It couldn't be done without the local farmers in our area too. They make they bring so much magic to this event, and it just goes to show how important they are in our local food system.

Taylor: And we touched base on it a little bit. But finally, are there any of the sponsors that you'd like to shout out for this event, who's making this possible?

Shane: Yeah, all those programs can't be all free. I mean, you gotta be spending some money on this.

Cecily: We are deeply grateful to the sponsors who make this event possible, including our Harvest Hero Sponsor, Nielsen Homes, and Sorto Pro Painters for sponsoring the mini pumpkins. We also extend thanks to our annual partners—Intermountain Healthcare, CL Admiral Beverage Corporation, Alphia, Swire Coca-Cola, Weber State University, Bank of Utah, and Ogden City—as well as all of our community partners and additional supporters who have contributed in so many ways. With the Ogden Downtown Alliance, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with a small but mighty team of seven, producing this event for more than 30,000 attendees, it truly takes a whole community. We are fortunate that our community is Ogden, and with the help of our volunteers, sponsors, and supporters like Visit Ogden, we are able to bring this celebration to life.

Taylor: Well, it's it's an Ogden born and bred event, and it's one of the best ways to celebrate the season, for sure, and we just are so. Grateful to have an organization like the Ogden downtown alliance to put this on you guys, color in between the lines of 25th Street and make it the incredible place it is to visit, both for locals and for people who are coming to Weber County.

Shane: Yeah, and I assume, like all events, it's never too late to volunteer, right? How can, how can people connect to the event if they want to even volunteer for an hour picking up chairs or trash or anything
like that.

Jess: Right now, our biggest need for volunteers is the evening shift. So anything after 4pm basically until 11pm we'll need help with that includes like take down trash pickup-

Shane: All the sexiest parts of the
Jess: It is a really fun job, though, to work with this group of people who are so passionate about what they do. A plus side is you get a free Harvest Moon bandana.

Taylor: Free bandana!

Cecily: Yeah, they're super cute.

Jess: And if you would like to sign up for a shift, we'd love to have you just go to our website. It's Ogden downtown.com/harvest, Moon Ogden. And then you can also follow us on social media, as we'll be posting regular updates and frequently posting volunteer shifts.

Shane: 23 years and going strong, we hope to be back with you guys next year with a fancier studio set up for this podcast and to discuss some more about the changes that we'll see coming on, but thanks for this event, and man, we can't wait to see it.

Cecily: We can't wait to see you there.