Want to go to a fall festival on (or near) Cape Cod this weekend? We have 8 ideas.
Editor's note: This story has been updated to reflect author Emma Straub's withdrawal from the Provincetown Book Festival.
The full fall of festivals continues this weekend with daylong or multi-day gatherings planned from Provincetown to Bourne and beyond — celebrating books, water, music, artists, food, family or just simply the chance to get together and have some fun.
Here are eight ways to get out and enjoy the September weather while shopping, listening, eating or browsing at the same time. The annual King Richard’s Faire is admittedly off-Cape, but isn’t it worth a little drive over the bridges to dress like you live in the Renaissance, eat turkey legs, watch jousting and laugh or marvel at the in-person shows?
Here’s a guide to get you to the celebration(s) of your choice:
Truro Treasures
The Truro Treasures weekend is designed to celebrate the community with three days of events focused on the history and bounty of the town.
The opening night presentation from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16 will be by the Truro Historical Society, including a film premiere related to the Cobb Family Archives and Library, at Highland House Museum (6 Highland Light Road), according to the event website. Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill will then hold a cocktail party from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at its Edgewood Farm property (3 Edgewood Way) to celebrate the center’s 50th anniversary.
On Saturday, Sept. 17, there will be a Truro Treasure Hunt at 9 a.m. at the museum; a historic cemetery tour at 10 a.m. at Truro Public Library; an artists’ fair and flea market from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., with a food court from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., at Truro Central School (Route 6); and a “Rock the Block” party with live music, a corn hole tournament, snacks, henna tattoos, a raw bar and face painting from 3 to 6 p.m. on Highland Road (between Salty Market Farmstand and Chequessett Chocolate).
On Sunday, the fair (10 a.m. to 3 p.m.) and food court (11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) will continue, the website says, plus there will be the Pamet 5K and Fun Run at 8:15 a.m. at Pamet Harbor; an antique and classic car show from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Truro Community Center (7 Standish Way, North Truro); and the Grape Stomp, featuring the Dirty Water Dance Band plus food and drink, from 3 to 6 p.m. at Truro Vineyards (11 Shore Road, North Truro). Information on all: https://trurotreasures.org/events.
Celebrate Our Waters
The Orleans Pond Coalition will again host a Celebrate Our Waters weekend, with a variety of outdoor events inviting people to enjoy the many waterways in town. The coalition describes itself on its website as a volunteer organization “dedicated to protecting and enhancing” the saltwater estuaries and freshwater ponds and lakes of Orleans.
The weekend begins at 6 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16 with a sunset paddle from Arey’s Pond Boat Yard (85 Arey’s Way). Headquarters for the event and a Family Fun Tent all weekend will be at Rock Harbor. Saturday and Sunday events start at 8:30 a.m. with a Birds of Nauset Beach event (Priscilla Landing) and Yoga On the Beach at the north entrance of Nauset Beach.
Other activities during the weekend will include a Baker's Pond Hike (80 Baker's Pond Road), a Sail on Pleasant Bay (Pleasant Bay Community Boating, 2287 Rt 28), Stand-Up Paddle Board (at the boatyard) a Model Boat Regatta (Crystal Lake Beach, Monument Road), a Bike Tour de Orleans Waters (Rock Harbor or Orleans Depot), events at businesses that include Addison Art Gallery, and the Fulcher Memorial Bonfire Saturday night at Nauset Beach.
Information and a full schedule: https://www.orleanspondcoalition.org/.
Provincetown Book Festival
Acclaimed authors Ruth Ozeki and Linda Villarosa are among 15 authors who will be on the Cape in person as part of the Friday through Sunday, Sept. 16-18 Provincetown Book Festival at the presenting Provincetown Public Library.
Ozeki is known for 2021 “The Book of Form and Emptiness” and other novels and Linda Villarosa is a New York Times journalist whose work includes “Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation.”
All events in the festival are free. It will open Friday night with a reading and reception for the recipient of the Rose Dorothea Award, given annually by the Board of Library Trustees to “a person with a strong connection to the Outer Cape who has made a significant contribution through the written word,” according to the festival announcement. The 2022 recipient will be Paul Lisicky, author of the memoir “Later: My Life at the Edge of the World,” “The Narrow Door: A Memoir of Friendship” and works of fiction.
Other featured authors will include novelists Julia Glass (“Vigil Harbor”), Kerri Maher (“The Paris Bookseller”) and Dolen Perkins-Valdez (“Take My Hand”). They will be joined by poets Elizabeth Bradfield (“Broadsided Press: Fifteen Years of Poetic and Artistic Collaboration, 2005-2020”) and Rio Cortez (“Golden Ax”). Novelists Saumya Dave (“What a Happy Family”) and Sara Novic (“True Biz”) will also appear at the festival.
The featured non-fiction authors will include Ben Shattuck (“Six Walks: In the Footsteps of Henry David Thoreau”), and biographers Scott Bane (“A Union Like Ours: The Love Story of F.O. Matthiessen and Russell Cheney”) and Melissa Homestead (“The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather and Edith Lewis”). In the “queer writer” category, the announcement said, will be Edgar Gomez (the memoir “High-Risk Homosexual”) and Joe Okonkwo (the short story collection “Kiss the Scars on the Back of My Neck”).
Events on Saturday will include a giant used book sale on the library lawn and, at 10 a.m., five regional writers participating in “Reading Local,” curated by Patrick Nolan, vice president and publisher of Penguin Books. Participants announced last week are: Rebecca Alvin, Yvonne deSousa, Suzann Heron, Marcene Marcoux and Dennis Minsky.
Information: https://provincetownbookfestival.org/.
Harwich Cranberry Arts & Music Festival
As its name suggests, the Harwich Cranberry Arts & Music Festival has two main parts: a giant arts and crafts festival and the CranJam 2022 Music Festival, both held in the fields behind the Harwich Community Center at 100 Oak St.
The festival will take place Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 17-18), with the crafts festival featuring more than 100 vendors offering a wide variety of handmade items open 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and some booths open longer. Entry and parking (including for bicycles) is free.
The CranJam festival is also free, with wine and beer sold during the concerts. There will be a wooden dance floor under the tent, and attendees are asked to bring their own chair and/or blanket for sitting. The music will be played from noon until dark on Saturday, with fireworks over the fields at dusk, then noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday.
Local performers on the schedule: For Saturday: Out Late with Diana DiGioia, The GroovaLottos, Grupo Gozarsa Salsa Band, and Kotoko Brass. For Sunday: Sarah Swain & the Oh Boys and Danielle Miraglia & the Glory Junkies.
Information on all: https://www.harwichcranberryartsandmusicfestival.org/.
Canal Day
Bourne’s family-friendly community event called Canal Day will be back 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17, with free admission at Buzzards Bay Park, which is on Main Street — and, of course, along the Cape Cod Canal.
The free event, put on by the Cape Cod Canal Region Chamber, will feature arts and crafts vendors, live entertainment, a wine and beer garden, children’s activities, a 5K road race (registration required) and the Cape Cod Canal Cup Cornhole Tournament, according to chamber CEO and president Marie Oliva.
Local food trucks on hand, she says, will include Culinary Assault featuring Stephen Coe, a nationally recognized and award-winning chef; Seafood Sam’s; Cousins Maine Lobster; Hometown Poke; Shine Mobile Coffee; Noonan Concessions; The Lobster Trap; iGotta Q Barbecue; South Shore Taco Guy; Kono Pizza; and Pour Garden for craft beer and wine sponsored by Whalers Brewing Co.
Information: https://www.capecodcanalchamber.org/.
Rubber Duck Regatta
For the first time in three years because of the pandemic, the Dennis Conservation Land Trust will return to Corporation Beach for its traditional Rubber Duck Regatta from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 17 (rain date Sept. 18).
More than 500 numbered rubber ducks, sponsored by local businesses, families and others, will be released at sea and race to the shore at the beach, with all proceeds benefiting land preservation in Dennis. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top three finishers.
The family-friendly event will also include food, games, music, and the “decked-out duck contest.” The event is free to attend and watch. To buy a race number and for information: https://dennisconservationlandtrust.org/, 508-694-7812.
Hyannis Open Streets
“Come play in the streets!” is the enticing invitation for the Hyannis Open Streets event that happens a few times a year to bring people downtown to enjoy the restaurants, the shops and a long list of special activities set up just for the afternoon.
Jane Walsh, who founded the Open Streets events, say typically between 5,000 and 10,000 participate each time.
Hyannis’ Main Street (between Barnstable Road and Sea Street) will be closed to vehicle traffic from noon to 4 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 18 for family fun. (Rain date is Sept. 25.) Walsh says there will be many bands and singer/songwriters providing live music, including Funktapus, Doug Ricciardi's Jazz 'til dawn, Fred Clayton Blues Band, Jukin' J and the Rockers, Brendan Princi, Violin Viiv, Kathleen Healy and Heyday.
Children's activities on Hyannis Village Green will include a variety of games, inflatables and an obstacle course, she says, with pogo sticks, hula hoops and other toys available to try out. There will also be face painters, Trevor the Juggler doing shows in the street, and for the first time ever, Walsh says, "a free roaming railroad." The trackless train from Connecticut will hold up to 27 people for each ride, and do loops around the west end of the street.
Children and adults are invited to ride bikes, scooters or wagons, skateboard, roller skate or just walk. "We're trying to encourage physical fitness, being outside and the social aspect of it being important as well," Walsh says. "It's a great place to learn to ride a bike or just ride."
Information: https://hyannisopenstreets.com/. Another Hyannis Open Streets will be held Oct. 16.
King Richard’s Faire
King Richard’s Faire, billed as New England’s largest fall Renaissance faire, opened its 41st season in Carver on Labor Day weekend and continues 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays through Oct. 23, plus the Indigenous People’s Day holiday.
Activities on the 80-acre wooded site (235 Main St. in Carver) include live entertainment, much of it on eight stages, featuring hundreds of local and national performers along with rides, games and pony rides. According to an announcement of this year's event, performers will include acrobats, aerialists, jugglers, fire-eaters, minstrels, dancers, puppeteers and trained dogs, as well as “knights” battling three times daily on the joust field, and “bawdy beggars” competing in mud.
New features this year include Sir Danny Drake, juggling fire and blade; Pict Pipers (pipe and drums); dog acts Magical Poodles (through Sept. 25) and Muttsville Comix (Oct. 1-23), and Braveheart Beasts horse show, the announcement said. There are also nearly 100 shops on the grounds, including Dragon’s Den candles, Hex Pottery, Skapa Leather, Whistle n’ Learn clay flutes and dancing wings, and Fire and Brimstone Pottery.
Food available, organizers say, include spit-roasted turkey legs, chowder or stew, onion blossoms and dragon wings, with eight tents for alcoholic drinks.
There are several connections from Cape Cod and nearby, according to publicist Julie Dennehy, president of Dennehy PR. She noted that two of the top face-painters are from here: Lady Kimberley Even Snyder of North Eastham and Kathy Hall from Popular Palette from Falmouth.
Wareham couple Chris and Kelly Christopulos and their son "C4" all work at the Faire — they are operations gurus, chain-mail artists and vendors, with the son a squire during the jousting. Singer/actor Justin Grankewicz is also from Wareham, and actor Melanie Singer is from Plymouth. Among the vendors, Ron Sanchies is from Falmouth, Dennehy says, and Hans Dipper's Wax Works longtime "wax hand" artist Ian Somyk is from Plymouth.
Each weekend of the Faire also has a theme. For Sept. 17, it's "Love is in the Faire," with a 4 p.m. vow renewal ceremony and a pub crawl. The Sept. 24-25 theme is "Fandom in the Kingdom" with "Game of Thrones" and "House of the Dragons" trivia and costume contests. Harry Potter-related activities figure prominently Oct. 1-2.
Tickets: $39; $20 for ages 4-11; free for age 3 and younger. Information and pre-purchased tickets: https://kingrichardsfaire.net/.
Contact Kathi Scrizzi Driscoll at kdriscoll@capecodonline.com. Follow on Twitter: @KathiSDCCT.
This article originally appeared on Cape Cod Times: Cape Cod fall festivals: Cranberry, Open Streets, Canal Day, more
