Free activities at the event include tours, wagon rides, craft demonstrations, a nature walk, and gourd decorating.

Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village will host its annual Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 6, from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Bring your family and friends for a day of free barn tours by Brother Arnold Hadd, free wagon rides, and other special activities.

Freshly-picked apples from the historic Shaker orchards will be offered for sale, along with cider-pressing of Shaker apples, homemade Shaker apple and pumpkin donuts, and BBQ dinner plates. Chipman’s Farm, neighbors to the Shakers since the 1790s, will have a fresh bounty of seasonal produce for sale, along with preserves and baked goods. Seasonal mums, other late-season bloomers, and houseplants will be available from Donna’s Greenhouse. Native American artists and crafters will include Lightning Hawk Creations, dolls by Wendy Hamilton, and Passamaquoddy Maple syrup and sugar. The Shaker Store and Museum Gift Shop will be open for business.

Free, traditional craft demonstrations will include wool fiber spinning, rug hooking and supplies by Parris House Wool Works, blacksmithing by Tim Greene, weaving by Marjie Thompson, wood-turning by Peter Asselyn, and woodcarving by the Poland Woodcarvers. There will be book signings by Don Perkins (The Barns of Maine) and Chris Becksvoort (The Shaker Legacy) and live Bluegrass music by Albert Price and the Pseudonyms.

Free wagon rides will be offered throughout the day and there will be free tours of the Shaker barns, herb garden and museum, as well as free face painting and gourd decorating for the kids. All activities will take place in the Shakers’ historic 1830 barns, so this is a rain-or-shine event.

A free Nature Walk will also be offered at 10:30 a.m. On this two-hour guided hike through the Shakers’ land, participants will learn about the indigenous species that occupy the many, diverse habitats of Shaker Village and will gain insight to the Shakers’ 200 years of land use and management. Pre-registration is not required, but is encouraged due to limited space. Call 926-4597 or visit www.maineshakers.com/workshops

Sabbathday Lake Shaker Village is located at 707 Shaker Road (Route 26) in New Gloucester.  For more information, contact them at 926-4597, info@maineshakers.com, or see www.maineshakers.com.