Autumn Celebrations at Cornucopia Fall Festival
by Kelsey Hontz, Bookmans Flagstaff Cashier and Future Bestseller
“Autumn” conjures images of colorful crisp leaves, sweaters and boots, hot apple cider and a bite of frost in the morning. The second annual Cornucopia Fall Festival at the Thorpe Park Softball Fields in Flagstaff was like that, but 80 degrees and mercilessly sunny. Regardless, all attendees enjoyed everything the festival had to offer.
Performers included the Northern Arizona University Community Music and Dance Academy (whose youngest student was 4 years old), a dancing dragon and the unforgettable Circus Bacchus. NAU Community Music and Dance Academy showed off their skills on the violin as well as an impressive interpretive dance. The dancing dragon, from Sacred Mountain Fighting and Healing Arts, offered the audience prosperity in the new season. Circus Bacchus wowed the crowds with a variety of displays. Women in striped tights tangled from silk sliders. A man with a ponytail tossed bowling balls like they were ping-pong balls. Belly-dancers, pole-dancers, jugglers and a clown who balanced a unicycle on his chin rounded out the impressive string of talent performing at Cornucopia.
Other entertainment included a petting zoo, in which any respectable adult could spend an hour or so petting the goats and the enormous sleeping bunny, a kid-size hay bale maze, bounce houses, a Ferris wheel and carnival games. This full-grown Bookmans representative lost her head while trying to toss a ring onto a bottle, but in another game she won a lovely package of poppy seeds for planting.
As with any such festival many people look forward to the food as much as they do the attractions. Food trucks offering Fratelli’s Pizza, Cajun gumbo, grilled corn and more lined up to feed the hungry fair goers. One particular highlight was the melon-aide served with a slice of chilled watermelon, highly necessary for thirst-quenching on such a hot day.
Despite tank tops and parasols being more common than oversize sweaters and hot cider, the Cornucopia Fall Festival had a magical air of autumn about it. The community turnout and spirit was uplifting, the entertainment exciting and the food delicious. The patrons, the staff and especially the kids enjoyed the event and look forward to the upcoming days of chill.
