Cedar Hill State Park To Host Harvest Heritage Festival

Media Contact: Bryan Frazier (512) 826-8703

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Outdoor Activities, Pumpkin Patch, Dance Highlight Day’s Activities

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CEDAR HILL, Texas — To celebrate the rich farming and ranching heritage of the North Texas region, Cedar Hill State Park will host its first-ever autumn Harvest Heritage Festival on Saturday, October 17.

Beginning at 11 a.m., park visitors can enjoy numerous activities ranging from historic trade and craft demonstrations, art displays, an antique tractor display, archery, fishing, horse-drawn hay rides, to traditional dance demonstrations and more. Folks will also be able to play in an old-style vintage baseball game, or harvest pumpkins from the park’s pumpkin patch at no cost.

"One of the unique features of this park is the presence of the historic Penn Farm Agricultural History Center," said Mercy Mcbrayer, coordinator of special events at Cedar Hill State Park. "The Penn family first started farming here in the mid 19th century and was here for more than a hundred years. A lot of the farm’s original structures have been preserved, and they really let the public see what life was like on a family farm in the 1800’s. Our Harvest Heritage Festival will celebrate this rich farming and ranching heritage of the area, and gives us a chance to showcase the rest of Cedar Hill State Park as a premier destination."

A traditional square dance for all ages is scheduled to close out the day’s activities at 5 p.m., when everyone is invited to participate.

"This year, our festival will include a pumpkin patch that our park staff planted and cultivated during the entire last year. People can get a pumpkin at the festival, decorate it and take it home. We hope that this event not only brings more people out to the park, but becomes a tradition that folks look for year after year," Mcbrayer said.

Cedar Hill State Park is an 1,800-acre park and nature preserve located in the south part of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, along the shores of Joe Pool Reservoir, just west of the city of Cedar Hill off of Beltline Road. The park is renowned for its bass and crappie fishing, miles of hilly and wooded hike and bike trails and its more than 350 campsites with water and electric hookups.

Admission to activities for the Harvest Heritage Festival is free to everyone with general park admission, which is $5 per person for ages 13 and older, and children ages 12 and younger are free. For more information, contact Cedar Hill State Park at (972) 291-3900, or visit the park’s Web site.

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