Vibrance and Warmth at the Annual Harvest Festival

By: Mia Ambroiggio ’26 MEM

Just a few days after the autumn equinox, Yale-Myers Forest welcomed over 200 students, staff, family, and friends of the School for the annual Harvest Festival. A collaborative effort of Yale Forests and the Quiet Corner Initiative, Harvest Festival creates a space for the greater YSE community to gather over food, music, and festivities.

Attendees eagerly drove down the long gravel path to reach Yale Myers-Forest Camp, bearing homemade dishes to bring to the communal table. The potluck was served on multiple tables stretching across the lawn and featured amber bottles of homemade pear and apple wine, copious amounts of cider donuts, and offerings from the pig roast, a Harvest Festival tradition. Community members enjoyed their meals to the sound of a string band before festivities began. Attendees gathered in pockets across camp to participate in timber games—such as log throwing and crosscut sawing—as well as pressing their own cider. Others cracked and sampled a variety of local nuts and berries, played yard games, or chatted around the campfire.

^{Students gather around the campfire before the timber games begin. Photo: Bob Handelman}

For first year students, Harvest Festival was an opportunity to deepen connections with their new friends and neighbors and get acquainted with the 7,840 acres of the Yale-Myers Forest. Returning attendees were happy to enjoy another Harvest Festival, potentially relishing in their final autumn in Connecticut.

^{Community members enjoy a glass of fresh-pressed apple cider and bottle some to take home with them. Photo: Bob Handelman}

Many students choose to attend the School, in part, due to its long-standing legacy of stewardship, proven through over a century’s worth of work dedicated to protecting and conserving forests worldwide and strengthening the communities that depend on them. Within that legacy are the traditions that truly paint students’ experiences here. Once arriving at YSE, it is clear that community is at the heart of everything. In practice, this looks like the Knob buzzing with conversation and laughter, choosing to spend Friday evenings at Forestry Club’s TGIF events, or watching the sunset on the Marsh Hall porch. And sometimes, it is coming together to drink cider with friends, old and new, in the woods.

^{Students share in bursts of joy and laughter at the pumpkin carving station. Photo: Bob Handelman}