Nearly 500 people of all ages attended the University of Maryland Eastern Shore’s Fall Community Festival September 28.
Dr. Moses Kairo, dean of the School of Agricultural and Natural Sciences, deemed the event, “a resounding success.” He expressed his “sincere gratitude to the entire team for pulling together a wonderful and very successful Fall Festival.” Kairo said the team “set a high bar for next year and demonstrated the true spirit of Hawk Pride in the way it pulled together to implement the various components of the festival.”
Led by Corrie Cotton, a research assistant professor in the Department of Agriculture, Food and Resource Sciences, the event was the combined effort of the schools of Agricultural and Natural Sciences; Business and Technology; Education, Social Sciences, and the Arts; Pharmacy and Health Professions; and Graduate Studies.
The festival featured a health fair by the Pharmacy department, cooking demonstrations, wagon rides to visit the research farm, research and extension demonstrations, a bouncy house, interactive demonstrations, an art exhibit by the Envision Club, a campus tour, a variety of games for all ages, a raffle drawing, and giveaways. Attendees got a kick out of taste tests such as edible insects like cricket chips with various dips, varieties of apples, healthy vegetables, ethnic crops, edible soil and make-your-own smoothies. Visitors were also able to hold baby chickens and pet the sheep and goats. In addition, Human Ecology students demonstrated digital textile printing on mugs and bags while academic departments provided information about their programs to attendees.
