10,000 Pumpkins Equals A Ton of Fun! Harvest at Newfields is Indy’s Newest and Best Fall Event

My fall event highlight this year was Newfields’ inaugural Harvest, a four-day, fifty-acre fall extravaganza that featured over 10,000 pumpkins, fall displays, art, animals, kids activities, and local vendors, restaurants and brewers.  Of all the wonderful events I’ve attended over the years at Newfields (previously known as Indianapolis Museum of Art), I think this one was my very favorite!  My parents and I went on Friday, October 4, and it was a beautiful fall day – sunny, not too hot or cold, crisp with a woodsy smell in the air and leaves swirling around us.  I bought tickets well in advance, taking a gamble on the weather, thinking it might sell out weeks early.  (It did sell out, but not until right before the weekend.)

Immediately upon entering the Newfields gardens, we knew we were in for a treat.  Pumpkins lined the paths.  They were “planted” among the flowers, lined up along the walls, and there were even tiny ones suspended above us from arches.  My favorite display of pumpkins was in front of the Garden Terrace, where gourds of every shape and variety were spilling down the stairs to create a giant cornucopia effect.

Next to the Garden Terrace was the Culinary Stage.  A wine demonstration by sommelier Josh Ratliff, the Director of Culinary Arts for Newfields, was about to begin, so we grabbed a table.  We received a small glass of Oliver Winery Cabernet Sauvignon along with a mini cheese plate and bottled water to snack on while learning about different wines and the best way to taste wines.  The day was off to the perfect start! 

After our appetizer, we moved right on to dinner and dessert.  The Liter House was serving up German and American hot dishes like bratwurst, pork barbeque, mac and cheese, and sauerkraut so we bought dinner there then split delicious mini desserts from Gallery Pastry Shop – a little pecan pie tart and melt-in-your-mouth shaped pumpkin mousse.  We also had apple cider slushies from McClure’s Orchard.  So many fall flavors!  McClure’s Orchards also brought lots of adorable farm animals to Harvest, like goats, chickens, bunnies, turkeys and pigs. You could even pet or hold some of them.

The beautiful fall displays of pumpkins were endless.  There was a covered bridge made of pumpkins with blue pumpkin “water” flowing beneath it, giant carved pumpkins by the Lilly House, and wagonloads of small pumpkins for children to paint in the kids crafts area.  I remarked several times to my parents it seemed like there were way more than the promised 5000 pumpkins Newfields advertised leading up to the event, and found out later there were actually 10,000 pumpkins on display!  The Indiana-grown pumpkins were repurposed after the event, with pie pumpkins going to Gleaners food bank, other pumpkins donated to the Indianapolis Zoo for animal feed and displays, and inedible pumpkins left on display for Newfields visitors to enjoy after the event before eventually being composted.

The featured art installation of Harvest was Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirror room All the Eternal Love I Have for Pumpkins, created in 2016.  The exhibit opened the day we attended Harvest.  Despite that, we only had about 4 people in line ahead of us to see it since the museum was issuing timed tickets that day.  It’s an immersive experience, where you get to go inside the infinity room for 45 seconds and see glowing glass pumpkins patterned in polka dots reflected in floor to ceiling mirrors, so it looks like you’re standing in a huge field of pumpkins.  It remains on display until March 29, 2020.  When I went back on November 2 with friends to see the pumpkin infinity room, there was a long line for the exhibit. I’m hoping to return while the exhibit is still here on a day that’s not crowded, and get some better photos.  45 seconds is not enough time for a slow photographer like me!

Harvest is going on my calendar as a can’t-miss event for 2020.  As we bid adieu to autumn, what were some of your favorite fall memories this year?  I love reading your comments, so please leave one below!