Music echoed off the walls of the barn. 

Pumpkins flew through the air.

Kids bounced past with glitter on their cheeks. 

The Agriculture Club hosted its annual Fall Festival on Sat. Sept. 24 at the Titmus Agricultural Center. The festival was meant to bring together the campus and town communities and featured animals, music, games, and other festivities. 

“We spend a lot of time working with the local community to try to make it more community-centered this year,” Laurynn Hackett, a senior and Agriculture Club president, said. “I think we actually had a good amount more people than I thought we would, and we had a lot more community members come out this year than we did last year.” 

Several examples of campus-community interaction at Fall Fest included a booth from Touch of Grace Nutrition in Rocky Mount, which sold samples of several of its tea bomb drinks. The Ag Club also invited local up-and-coming performer Morgan Culbertson to play at the festival. Both guests drew a large crowd. 

“It’s great community fun,” said Nancy Brubaker, animal science professor and advisor to the Ag Club. “I’m glad everyone could come out.” 

On-campus clubs, including Help Save the Next Girl and Delta Phi Epsilon, volunteered at the Festival to help the Ag Club run the event. Other activities featured at the Festival included face painting, pumpkin-chunkin’, and a cornhole competition, as well as opportunities to interact with some of the Agricultural Center’s animals, including several sheep and Brubaker’s horse, Levi. 

“I think it’s going well,” Ryan Gobble, vice president of the club, said about halfway through the event. “I’m happy.” 

There was a steady stream of people throughout the whole event, with both college students and Ferrum community members visiting each activity and coming in and out of the barn throughout the day. 

The popularity and success of this event has the club looking forward to hosting future events  and increasing college/community engagement with the Agriculture Club as the campus moves out of the pandemic.

Upcoming events include Ag Day for recruitment purposes on Homecoming, and the Ag alumni breakfast beginning that same day at 9 a.m.