Frazee House Harvest Festival 2019
Submitted by Maria LaMorte-Wright
The historic Frazee farmstead will host October festivities on its site and participate in Union County-wide events marking the area’s deep Colonial history. All October events, besides providing engagement to county residents and lovers of history, will benefit the “Save the Frazee House” project, an effort to complete the renovation of the historic house.
The 4th Annual Harvest Festival will be held – rain or shine – at the Frazee House site, 1451 Raritan Road in Scotch Plains, on Saturday, October 19, 2019, from 12:00 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. There will be many family friendly activities: live music, pony rides, a petting zoo, food trucks, face painting, pumpkin tossing and bowling, a haunted trail, and a costume contest, plus, new for this year, bouncy house, water game and more games for all ages.
“We’ve made wonderful progress with the Frazee renovation and are excited for the public to see it,” said Calamaras. The Harvest Festival is another chance for the community to visit the site and see for themselves.
There will be “The Great Pumpkin Patch,” where pumpkins will be sold during the Harvest Festival and every day, from 11a.m. to dusk, at the Frazee site. The sales are ongoing from October 5 through 31.
Additionally, in October, overlapping the date of Harvest Festival, will be the Frazee House participation with Union County’s annual “Four Centuries in a Weekend,” October 19 and 20. The county Board of Chosen Freeholders sponsors coordinated open houses that weekend at more than 50 sites all over the county — homes, museums, trails, cemeteries and parks — of which the Frazee site is one of the oldest. Representatives will be on the Frazee site between 12 p.m. and 5 p.m. on both days with brochures, bookmarks, a video demonstration and an external tour of the house. History buffs can note that the Frazee House is one of the stops on the Battle of Short Hills Historic Trail as well as being renowned for the legendary confrontation between General Cornwallis and Aunt Betty Frazee.
“October 2019 could be one of the most significant milestones for Aunt Betty Frazee since she stepped onto her porch to defy the British on their march past her house in 1777,” said Andy Calamaras, president of the Rotary Frazee House committee. The committee, with the support of the Township of Scotch Plains, has spearheaded a 12-year project to rescue the house’s structure to the American Revolutionary period – and the external renovation is nearly complete.
More information about the Save the Frazee House project can be found at crowdrise.com/savethefrazeehouse. You can also visit the facebook page for ongoing updates regarding the October events: facebook.com/frazeehouse.
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