"All good things are wild and free." --Henry David Thoreau

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Urban Hike with a Haunted Harvest Festival--Oct. 28, 2012


Sorry for the last minute notice, but I want to invite you and yours to another good group walk with the kiddos, outdoors having a hoot the old fashioned way. This time, there’s a new and different kind of San Franciscan street fair happening at the end of our walk, the Visitacion Valley Haunted Harvest Festival!

When: Sunday October 28th, starting at 10 am—rain or shine!

Starting Point: Native Plant Garden in the Visitacion Valley Greenway (Tioga Avenue, between Delta and Rutland Streets) 


Ending Point: the Haunted Harvest Fair (Leland Avenue, b/t Bayshore Blvd and Raymond Street)

This will be a mellow walk, downhill, traveling through gardens and pollinator's corridors, culminating at the exciting, fun, and free Haunted Harvest Festival, a phenomenal event that your kid is gonna go gonzo for. 

When you’re ready to go home, just ramble back to where you began, at your leisure. The fair continues till 4 pm. 



What You’ll See & Do   

We’ll walk through the stunning Vis Valley Greenway. It’s is an award-winning series of six gardens arranged in a checkerboard-like pattern down the slope of the ridge that is McLaren Park. They’re a great example of how motivated people transform neglected lots into lush gardens and pollinator corridors.

We’ll stop for a snack around 10:45 and some hanging out/playing in the playground at the Children’s Garden (on the north side of Teddy Ave, between Rutland and Alpha Streets). If you happen to be running late, this is a great place to connect with the group.

We’ll continue on through the Herb Garden, Community Garden, and Hans Schiller Plaza to end at Leland Avenue for the street fair celebrating the season.

We’ll arrive at the Haunted Harvest Festival by 11:30. 

The toddler/kid costume parade is at 11:45, and the organizers of the fair hope your kid will be dressed up and want to strut his/her stuff across the stage! My kid will be doing it too (unless she has a tantrum).  :-)

Elsewhere at the festival, you’ll find:
--free trick or treat bags (filled with popcorn) for the first 600 children

--haunted houses
-- bouncy houses
--themed areas (a ship, a castle, and “skull island”)
--kids’ hands-on activities (art project table run by Scrap, face painting, crafts, etc.)
--live music and performances
--food trucks
--local arts and crafts
--a BMX show with a bicycle give-away
--and more

We would be so happy if you could join us, so please grab the kids and the costumes, and come out this Sunday. If you’re interested in taking a hike through McLaren Park before reaching the Vis Valley Greenway at 10, email me for details about meeting earlier. Hope you can join!

Cheers,
Jessica and Marshall
jericahahn (at) hotmail.com

For more info on the Greenway, please visit:

Learning to be an urban farmer in the Greenway with Anne Seeman, one of the VVG's founders
Where We'll Meet at 10 am--The top of the Native Plant Garden on Tioga Ave



Visitacion Valley Greenway