On Saturday, October 3, 2015 from 11 am – 3 pm the beautiful fields surrounding Verrill Farm will be transformed into an old fashioned fair ground for the 9th Annual Harvest Festival and Benefit for the Pediatric Intervention Team at Emerson Hospital. The event features a petting zoo, hay and pony rides, face painting, games, music, food, a raffle and the search for the perfect pumpkin in the pick-your-own fields.
The Benefit – Emerson Hospital’s Coping Kits for Kids, 10 Years of Comforting Children
Proceeds from the Harvest Festival are used by Emerson Hospital’s Pediatric Intervention Team to create and distribute age-appropriate kits, called Coping Kits, to all children treated at the hospital. The kits contain comfort items and activities that are used to help children and caregivers cope successfully with the hospital experience. This is the tenth anniversary of Emerson’s Coping Kits. Since they were introduced to pediatric patients in 2005, over 30,000 Coping Kits have been distributed. To date, the Harvest Festival has raised nearly $100,000 for the Coping Kits.
Activities include:
• Hay rides and pony rides
• Live Music by Boston Road Bluegrass
• Pick-your-own Pumpkins
• Petting Zoo
• Crafts
• Baseball Speed Pitch
• Cupcake Walk Game
• Angry Birds
• Water Balloon Toss
• Violet the Clown - entertainment, balloon animals and face painting
• A raffle of items for family entertainment and dining, gift baskets and certificates. All items are generously donated by local businesses.
• Hot dogs, hamburgers, beverages and other delicious food
Proceeds from activity, game and raffle tickets, as well as food purchases go to Emerson Hospital’s Pediatric Intervention Team to provide Coping Kits for children at the hospital. Community sponsors of this year’s Harvest Festival are: Cambridge Savings Bank, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates, Lexington Eye Associates, Concord OB/GYN, Pediatric Dentistry, and AFA OB/GYN Associates.
Verrill Farm was established as a dairy farm in 1918, just seven years after the founding of Emerson Hospital. The long-time neighbors have established an annual Harvest Festival for families, with proceeds going to help children at the hospital.
