Head to Cedar Rose Park for a day of kids’ activities, live music, a seed swap, food contests, booths to meet City employees, and an event about electric bikes, scooters, and cars.
Join us for our annual Harvest Festival, a celebration of fall featuring food, live music, and kids' activities that showcase our city's thriving culture of growing and making our own food.
You can also learn more about how we serve Berkeley by meeting City staff from various departments, including 311, Customer Service, Civic Arts, Fire, Mental Health, Planning, Police, Public Works, Rent Board, the Library, and Youth Engagement.
This free festival highlights foods grown, harvested, and prepared by members of the Berkeley community.
Harvest Festival
October 21, 2023, 11:00 am — 4:00 pm
Cedar Rose Park, 1300 Rose St
Whether you're attending for the festivities or to mingle with City staff, come join us.
Swap crops, seeds, and enter food contests
To promote urban farming, homemade food, and healthier eating, the Food and Garden Exhibitions will feature:
- Crop Swap: Exchange surplus fruits and vegetables from your garden with other gardeners. All types of fruits and vegetables are welcome.
- Seed Swap: Share garden seeds and gardening tips. No seeds to swap? No problem—come and learn from others.
- Food Contests: Enter your best baked goods, preserves, pickled vegetables, pie, and gluten-free baked goods, and more.
- Contestants of all ages can register online for free using the Harvest Festival Food Contest 2023 link in our recreation portal.
- Bring food submissions to judging area 9:00 am – 11:30 am. Judging is at noon.
- All participants will receive recognition and ribbons will be awarded in each category.
- Food entries must showcase a main ingredient that could realistically be cultivated in Berkeley, even if the ingredient itself wasn't grown there.
Kids’ activities, food, live music, and Ride Electric event
In the “Kids Zone,” children can ride a zipline, jump and bounce on inflatables, make scarecrows, decorate pumpkins, visit a petting zoo, enjoy a Tot Zone, be photographed at the photobooth, get their face painted, and play carnival games for prizes.
A variety of food trucks and vendors will be available offering Southern cuisine, lobster, hot dogs, BBQ, dessert, and more.
Live music will be provided by Fahrenheit 5150, Smokehouse Reunion, and Funky Latin Orchestra. A DJ will entertain between sets. Bring a blanket or lawn chair if you want to sit for a while.
Nearby at the Cedar Rose basketball courts, you can also check out electric cars, ride an electric bike or hop on an e-scooter to learn how you can electrify your ride. From 11:00 am to 4:00 pm, you can connect with local owners of these devices or vehicles and learn about discounts, rebates, and more.
If possible, try using a sustainable mode of transit to get to the Harvest Festival. Bike on the Ohlone Greenway or on one of our bike boulevards and use the park’s bike parking. By bus, take AC Transit #52 or use AC Transit's route planner. Cedar Rose Park is also within walking distance from North Berkeley BART.
Organized by the City's Parks, Recreation and Waterfront Department, this event is just one of a variety of camps, classes, and activities for all ages and socioeconomic backgrounds offered through our online registration portal.
To volunteer at the Harvest Festival, call Jasmine (510) 981-6671.
Come out October 21 to enjoy live music, engage in kids’ activities, and celebrate our City’s culture of sustainable living and local food creation.
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