BEDFORD, Pennsylvania — There is something about the slight shift toward crisper air and the scent that lingers in the meadows and crops, the brilliant colors, the reds, golds, and oranges, that tip the leaves in Pennsylvania’s section of the Appalachian Mountains. It draws people to small towns like this one to celebrate America’s brilliance post-harvest.
From the Ohio state line to Bedford County, the back roads of the Lincoln Highway are lined with tiny farm stands run by families looking to sell their last crops of apples, pumpkins, cabbage, and onions. There are also general stores filled with culinary fall delights “put up” by locals: apple butter, piccalilli, and a variety of pickled vegetables.
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Signs dot the highway for several small-town harvest celebrations. However, the big destination in this region for the past 60 years is the Bedford Fall Foliage Festival. Now in its 61st year, the two-weekend event — last weekend was the first — attracts thousands from as far away as Washington, D.C., and New York City to take in the wares of over 300 vendors, as well as the scores of charming local shops, none of them national franchises. The camaraderie and community that forms at the event fills the air.
This weekend will also include a new feature designed just for young kids: an animal park encounter, set up by the Living Treasures Animal Park by the Juniata River. That’s where the Fort Bedford Museum is located, where kids are able to take pony rides and interact with a variety of animals from the Jones Mill Westmoreland County animal park.
The grande dame of the town, the Omni Bedford Springs Resort, located just a little over a mile from town along the Heritage Trail, offers their guests a free resort shuttle to attend. There are plenty of fall activities for their guests to enjoy, including things as simple as sitting around a large fire pit and enjoy s’mores and hot cocoa for the young. For the not-so-young, drinks with hints of nutmeg, bourbon, and pumpkin add to the experience of the season.
There are also ghostly and not-so-ghostly tours of the expansive hotel, whose roots began in the 18th century. The Omni Bedford Springs Resort will continue the Appalachian harvest season with its Fall Into Rejuvenation event leading into All Hallows Eve, with very stylized facials, moonlit yoga sessions as well as mystical potion bars, tea blending, and forest bathing. There’s also a unique bar in their renowned speakeasy, uncovered last year after being boarded up for over 100 years ahead of last year’s Christmas season.
Tiny towns like Bedford, population 2,880, don’t just survive on tourism. They thrive on it in the same way tiny towns with colleges and universities do. They keep the doors open on Main Street, giving young people a reason not to leave town. Bedford was dying before the Bedford Springs was brought back to life 20 years ago after sitting dormant for over two decades. Those 450 jobs alone at the resort in hospitality have drawn people here to invest in manufacturing, distribution, warehousing, agriculture, life sciences, and entrepreneurship in opening small businesses in a now thriving business district.
Not only do events like the Bedford Fall Festival give local vendors the ability to showcase local craftsmanship and artisan skills, but they also give the town the ability to brag about how important it has been in the development of our country, beginning with the French and Indian War and into the country’s 250th birthday next year.
It was here that George Washington used Fort Bedford as a critical supply point for the Crown in his endeavor to capture Fort Duquesne at the Forks of the Ohio (modern-day Pittsburgh). No French and Indian War, no Revolutionary War. No America.
There is an extraordinary mural of Washington from his time in downtown Bedford on the corner of East Pitt and South Richards Streets. It depicts Washington’s time here as a colonial, leading his troops during the French and Indian War.
Washington’s headquarters still stand along East Pitt Street.
The Bedford Springs Hotel is also home to some extraordinary examples of the preservation of what was once the wild frontier of this country. Walking through helps you understand the detailed preservation that has been done to showcase American exceptionalism.
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This weekend’s fall festival here in Bedford, or one in a village or town close to wherever you live, is often driven by volunteer community leaders who understand their town may not be the biggest or shiniest, but it has something unique to offer. Festivals not only bring tourists in, but they also bring locals together to form and embrace the sense of community they can form.
They aren’t just fun, they strengthen the social fabric of a small town.