This Is Your Invitation

Once upon a time it was an International Festival. After that I believe it was a Cultural Arts Festival. Now it is a Fall Festival. One thing remains the same: It’s an annual tradition in Oakland Mills and it’s my favorite Columbia Village event.

Oakland Mills Community Association Fall Festival

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 4 11:00 AM TO 3:00 PM

Oakland Mills Village Center 5851 Robert Oliver Place Columbia, MD

Free! Rain or Shine!

Craft & Community Vendors
Yards Alive Native Plant Giveaway
Bike HoCo Bike Corral
OMHS Band & Poms
Live Entertainment
SFES Hot Dog Stand
Food Trucks
Children's Area

I love this bit:

If you have a bike to donate, bring it to the Bike HoCo bike corral, and they will give it to Free Bikes 4 Kidz. The OMHS Food Pantry will also be taking non-perishable food and monetary donations at the festival.

This festival even has its own website where you will find that everything you need to know has been organized and laid out beautifully.

My favorite part of my village’s yearly festival is the kickoff at 11 am led by the Oakland Mills High School Marching Band.

Fair warning: if you talk while the band is playing you will probably feel my eyes burning a whole in your body.

Festivals like this are purely community-building ventures. They take months of preparation and require coordination between OMCA professional staff and village volunteers. Every community celebration you attend that feels easy and fun and almost effortless is the result of an amazing amount of invisible work.

It’s not a fundraiser. Not selling a product. Not promoting a political candidate.

The Oakland Mills Fall Festival is a celebration of community. We value connections. (Really. It’s embedded in the website.)

There’s a ton of stuff going on around town this Saturday. You will have plenty to choose from. I hope you’ll consider stopping by my village for a bit of the old-school Columbia vibe.

Bonus content: If you’d like to see a truly dopey photo of me and proof that my enthusiasm for this festival has deep roots, just click this link.

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