🎃 Fall Harvest Festival at Brooklyn Botanic Garden in Prospect Heights

Grab your friends and spend the afternoon at our pop-up beer and cider garden full of fall vibes! Enjoy a drink and relax on a hay bale or blanket, play lawn games, get your palm read, and listen to some folksy live music.

• Hay Bale Haus (Cherry Esplanade)
  • Beer and Cider Garden    
    Menu offerings include sandwiches, sausages, and snacks plus beer and cider from local brewers like Talea Brewing Co., Brooklyn Brewery, Bronx Brewery, and Hudson North, plus canned cocktails from Liquid Fables.   
  • Lawn Games
    Get competitive with a game of cornhole, giant Connect 4, Jenga, and more on the softest grass in Brooklyn.  
  • Palm and Tarot Card Readings with Raven (ages 16+)    
    Sneak a peek at your future potential and gain greater understanding of your strengths, talents, and passions. Mystical, entertaining, or both? You decide!  
• Hay Bale Haus Stage (Cherry Esplanade)
  • 11:15 a.m. Wifetime                
    Brooklyn-based folk musicians Andrea Asprelli, Sam Dallas, and Olivia Ellen Lloyd make up this “if-you-know-you-know” supergroup that routinely plays to hushed crowds in various backroom venues across South Brooklyn.
  • 1 p.m. Louie Lou Louis                
    This Brooklyn-based songster inspires joy and connection with a unique blend of folk, jazz, and global music.
  • 3 p.m. Susan McKeown                
    Grammy-winning vocalist and songwriter Susan McKeown is one of the most powerful and innovative voices in folk music today, with 16 commercial albums under her belt.
• Pumpkin Patch (Atrium & Atrium Patio)
  Visit the Terrain Pumpkin Patch to purchase seasonal gourds and pumpkins to decorate and take home with you! We will provide foraged and harvested materials including colorful autumn leaves, acorns, pinecones, and more! Plus, watch as ordinary pumpkins transform into extraordinary works of art with a live demonstration from the pros at Maniac Pumpkin Carving. Pick up tips and tricks for carving your own pumpkin at home!  
• Gather and Grow (Discovery Garden, Hamm Children’s Learning Courtyard)
  Kids and adults alike can learn about the natural world at our special hands-on, harvest-themed Discovery Stations. Plus take part in a collaborative art project!
  • Three Sisters Garden Exploration
    Indigenous farmers from nations across Turtle Island (North America) have been planting the Three Sisters (corn, squash, and beans) for thousands of years with the knowledge that these crops grow better together than apart. At this station, get to know who the ancestral plants growing in our Three Sisters Garden are, and why they thrive together.      
  • Seed Saving        
    Collecting seeds from the plants that we grow makes sure that our garden can grow again next season, next generation, and beyond! Seed saving preserves food traditions and empowers food sovereignty. Learn about different methods, get to know some seedkeepers, and take some seeds home for your next growing season.        
  • Scribble Garden        
    Join a community art project at the Garden! Together we will collaboratively create a layered mural depicting BBG’s plant life—both real and imaginary.
• Harvest Hollow (Shelby White and Leon Levy Water Garden)
  Try your hand at our very own cider press and enjoy a glass or two, get your face painted with Illuminated Faces, play a lawn game with your family,     or just relax on a blanket and enjoy our harvest presentations.  
  • 11:30 a.m. Redhawk Native American Arts Council        
    Redhawk Native American dancers share dances and songs honoring Mother Earth and the fall harvest season.        
  • 2:45 p.m. Haiti Cultural Exchange presents Mizik Ayiti! featuring Riva Précil        
    Riva Nyri Précil presents a demonstration of traditional Haitian rhythms, songs, and dances associated with the harvest season, which is closely linked to the spirit Kouzen Zaka, the lwa (spirit) of the harvest and agriculture in Haitian Vodou.  
• Fall Festivities (Around the Garden)
  • 11–11:45 a.m. & 12:30–1:15 p.m. Shinbone Alley Stilt Band (Osborne Garden)
    This “taller-than-life” band energizes audiences with an eclectic repertoire of Dixieland, swing, rock, jazz, and blues.
  • 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Crisp Chalk Creations (Oak Circle)    
    Bring your imagination and creativity to the largest coloring book you will ever find. The artists of ChalkArtNYC create the outlines, you choose your colors and bring them to life. 
  • 11 a.m.–4 p.m. Autumn Express (Starts at Herb Garden)              
    Ride around the Water Garden in a BBG tractor-pulled wagon!
  • 12 & 2 p.m. Fall Fruits and Nuts Tour (Meet on Magnolia Plaza by building steps.)
    Explore the fall harvest of nuts, berries, and other fruits that so many trees and shrubs show off in this Garden-wide guided walk.
  • 12 & 2 p.m. Hops and Herbs Hub (Herb Garden)  
    Join Liquid Fables at 12 p.m. and TALEA Beer at 2 p.m. for a behind-the-scenes look at the brewing process, recipe development, and craft that go into every beer, from selecting hops to the finished product, followed by a Q&A session.
  • 2:30 p.m. Costume Parade (Plant Family Collection aka Witch-Hazel Parade Grounds)
    Join Shinbone Alley Stilt Band for an exuberant costume parade!