Fall Harvest Festival - Brooklyn Botanic Garden
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Fall Harvest Festival
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Fall Harvest Festival

Families & Kids | Festivals | Special Events

Saturday, October 25, 2025 | 11 a.m.–4 p.m.
Ticketed Event

Celebrate the fall season surrounded by some of Brooklyn’s most fabulous foliage. Enjoy live music, hands-on activities for families, a cider and beer garden, pumpkin-decorating, and more. Come dressed in your best flannel—or a costume for an afternoon parade!

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Wheelchairs are welcome and accessible seating is available for people with limited mobility. Please contact [email protected] with any accessibility-related questions or requests.

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Information for Attendees

Festival tickets are required. There is no regular Garden admission on this day.

Blankets are welcome on Cherry Esplanade and in the Shelby White and Leon Levy Water Garden (no folding chairs, please). Accessible seating is available for people with limited mobility.

Outside food and beverages are not allowed. Exceptions are bottled water, baby bottles, and pocket snacks for individuals with dietary restrictions. A substantial menu of food and drink will be available at Hay Bale Haus on Cherry Esplanade and Yellow Magnolia Canteen off Lily Pool Terrace, plus snacks and beverages at a kiosk in the Water Garden and the Coffee Bar in the Steinberg Visitor Center. Please properly dispose of your trash and do not pour liquids or ice on the lawn.

If you plan to drive to the Garden, the parking lot will be pay-on-entry with a flat rate of $25 or a members’ parking pass.

This event is rain or shine. In the event of severe weather, some programs will be will be moved indoors and others may canceled.

Event Map

Click or tap below for full-size map.

Show larger map A simplified map of BBG that shows the Administration Building

Hay Bale Haus

Cherry Esplanade

A woman wearing what shirt holds a can of beer with friend in blue shirt owning a can of beer at outdoor festival.
A group of friends playing bocce on grass.

Grab your friends and spend the afternoon at our pop-up beer and cider garden full of fall vibes! Enjoy a drink and relax on a hay bale or blanket, play lawn games, get your palm read, and listen to some folksy live music.

  • Beer and Cider Garden

    Menu offerings include sandwiches, sausages, and snacks plus beer and cider from local brewers like Talea Brewing Co., Brooklyn Brewery, Bronx Brewery, and Hudson North, plus canned cocktails from Liquid Fables.

  • Lawn Games

    Get competitive with a game of cornhole, giant Connect 4, Jenga, and more on the softest grass in Brooklyn.

  • Palm and Tarot Card Readings with Raven (ages 16+)

    Sneak a peek at your future potential and gain greater understanding of your strengths, talents, and passions. Mystical, entertaining, or both? You decide!

Hay Bale Haus Stage

Cherry Esplanade

  • A digitally stitched together image of three musicians in a band called Wifetime put against a green background of water.

    11:15 a.m.

    Wifetime

    Brooklyn-based folk musicians Andrea Asprelli, Sam Dallas, and Olivia Ellen Lloyd make up this “if-you-know-you-know” supergroup that routinely plays to hushed crowds in various backroom venues across South Brooklyn.

  • Portrait of Louie Lou Louis, a Brooklyn-based musician, smiling with his hands in this pockets standing in the middle of a greenway.

    1 p.m.

    Louie Lou Louis

    This Brooklyn-based songster inspires joy and connection with a unique blend of folk, jazz, and global music.

  • Woman in pink sleeveless top stands against stone wall posing.

    3 p.m.

    Susan McKeown

    Grammy-winning vocalist and songwriter Susan McKeown is one of the most powerful and innovative voices in folk music today, with 16 commercial albums under her belt.

Pumpkin Patch

Atrium & Atrium Patio

Pumpkin decorated with a collage-style face made from natural materials, including colorful leaves, pinecones, and twigs.
Man in black T-shirt and ball cap carves house and lettering into two pumpkins.

Visit the Terrain Pumpkin Patch to purchase seasonal gourds and pumpkins to decorate and take home with you! We will provide foraged and harvested materials including colorful autumn leaves, acorns, pinecones, and more!

Plus, watch as ordinary pumpkins transform into extraordinary works of art with a live demonstration from the pros at Maniac Pumpkin Carving. Pick up tips and tricks for carving your own pumpkin at home!

Gather and Grow

Discovery Garden, Hamm Children’s Learning Courtyard

Kids and adults alike can learn about the natural world at our special hands-on, harvest-themed Discovery Stations. Plus take part in a collaborative art project!

  • Onondaga farmer, seedkeeper, and educator Angela Ferguson holds jars of seeds for planting Three Sisters seeds in the Discovery Garden’s courtyard.

    Three Sisters Garden Exploration

    Indigenous farmers from nations across Turtle Island (North America) have been planting the Three Sisters (corn, squash, and beans) for thousands of years with the knowledge that these crops grow better together than apart. At this station, get to know who the ancestral plants growing in our Three Sisters Garden are, and why they thrive together.

  • Back of a young girl's head as she looks at seeds displayed in jar lids on a table; families gather nearby to plant Three Sisters seeds.

    Seed Saving

    Collecting seeds from the plants that we grow makes sure that our garden can grow again next season, next generation, and beyond! Seed saving preserves food traditions and empowers food sovereignty. Learn about different methods, get to know some seedkeepers, and take some seeds home for your next growing season.

  • Children sit at a table covered in mural paper, drawing with markers and colorful paints.

    Scribble Garden

    Join a community art project at the Garden! Together we will collaboratively create a layered mural depicting BBG’s plant life—both real and imaginary.

Harvest Hollow

Shelby White and Leon Levy Water Garden

A child with a flower painted on her face looks in a hand mirror and smiles.
Young girl in a yellow dress pressing apples in a wooden apple press, outdoors on a sunny day.

Try your hand at our very own cider press and enjoy a glass or two, get your face painted with Illuminated Faces, play a lawn game with your family, or just relax on a blanket and enjoy our harvest presentations.

  • Redhawk Native American dancer in traditional regalia performing outdoors, wearing vibrant feathered headdress.

    11:30 a.m.

    Redhawk Native American Arts Council

    Redhawk Native American dancers share dances and songs honoring Mother Earth and the fall harvest season.

  • A woman sitting in woven chair holding a plate of colorful artificial fruit in her lap.

    2:45 p.m.

    Haiti Cultural Exchange presents Mizik Ayiti! featuring Riva Précil

    Riva Nyri Précil presents a demonstration of traditional Haitian rhythms, songs, and dances associated with the harvest season, which is closely linked to the spirit Kouzen Zaka, the lwa (spirit) of the harvest and agriculture in Haitian Vodou.

    Presented in collaboration with Haiti Cultural Exchange, a nonprofit organization established to develop, present, and promote the cultural expressions of the Haitian people.

Fall Festivities

Around the Garden

  • Members of the Shinbone Alley Stilt Band performing outdoors on tall stilts, playing instruments and entertaining the crowd with lively music.

    11–11:45 a.m. and 12:30–1:15 p.m.

    Shinbone Alley Stilt Band

    Osborne Garden

    This “taller-than-life” band energizes audiences with an eclectic repertoire of Dixieland, swing, rock, jazz, and blues.

  • Artists creating colorful chalk drawings on the ground of butterflies and flowers.

    11 a.m.–4 p.m.

    Crisp Chalk Creations

    Oak Circle

    Bring your imagination and creativity to the largest coloring book you will ever find. The artists of ChalkArtNYC create the outlines, you choose your colors and bring them to life.

  • A wagon full of people smiling at camera in an outdoor garden setting while it's raining.

    11 a.m.–4 p.m.

    Autumn Express

    Starts at Herb Garden

    Ride around the Water Garden in a BBG tractor-pulled wagon!

  • highbush blueberries on the bush

    12 & 2 p.m.

    Fall Fruits and Nuts Tour

    Meet on Magnolia Plaza by building steps.

    Explore the fall harvest of nuts, berries, and other fruits that so many trees and shrubs show off in this Garden-wide guided walk.

  • Two woman drink beer while sitting near marble countertop.

    12 & 2 p.m.

    Hops and Herbs Hub

    Herb Garden

    Join Liquid Fables at 12 p.m. and TALEA Beer at 2 p.m. for a behind-the-scenes look at the brewing process, recipe development, and craft that go into every beer, from selecting hops to the finished product, followed by a Q&A session.

  • Shinbone Alley Stilt Band performing outdoors, with members on stilts wearing colorful costumes and playing instruments.

    2:30 p.m.

    Costume Parade

    Plant Family Collection (aka Witch-Hazel Parade Grounds)

    Join Shinbone Alley Stilt Band for an exuberant costume parade!