Join us on Saturday, October 4, 2025 between 12pm and 6pm to celebrate an abundant and diverse harvest! We’ll have live music, dancing, and storytelling alongside opportunities to learn about different harvest traditions from Dejope (Madison) and around the world. Free and open to the public!
The Harvest Festival focuses on making emotional connections to plants as part of the Garden’s annual theme, Growing Climate. There will be opportunities for creating with plants, a seed swap, and more hands-on activities.
The harvest festival’s song, dance, and food celebrates the ongoing Kitchen Garden project which has been highlighting the crops, cuisines, and cultures of our Chinese, Indigenous, and Latine partners. This year we’re also emphasizing the Mid-Autumn Festival from East Asia.
The harvest festival also features student research that focuses on the importance of harvest festivals to communities across the globe.
Schedule of Events
Noon – Seed Swap Begins (contribute your own seeds at noon to have first pick!)
Noon to 4:00 pm – Drop-in hand processing flax for fiber demonstration with Leslie Schroeder of Wisconsin Linen Revival
12:30 pm – Seed Swap Opens to the Public (continues while supplies last)
1:00 to 5:00 pm – Student fair with projects and presentations from UW-Madison students
12:45 pm – Madison Japanese Taiko group Beni Daiko
1:30 pm – Wayne Valliere (Mino-Giizhig) shares his work as an Ojibwe canoe maker
2:00 pm – Norden Haus students perform Scandinavian song and dance (in English Garden)
2:00 – 5:00 pm – Folk craft activities including quilting and a seed tour of the Wyman Kitchen Garden
2:30 pm – Jewop student a capella performance
3:00 pm – Cait Vitale-Sullivan performs Scandinavian and traditional American folk music
3:00-5:00pm – Cordage from native plants demonstration by Mitch Frank
3:30 pm – Atimevu plays traditional music from Ghana
4:00 pm – East Asian cooking demo by Paul Tseng
5:00 pm – Son Fiorella, Nave visiting scholars, perform traditional music from Veracruz, Mexico
*Schedule subject to change*
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get there?
Allen Centennial Garden is located on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison at 620 Babcock Drive. We highly recommend taking public transportation to visit us. Numerous bus routes regularly stop within a few block of the Garden. MetroTransit recommends you plan your route using Google Maps. On the weekend, there is also free parking on campus. Lots 34, 36, and 40 are all near the Garden. More information is available at the University Transportation Services Website here: https://transportation.wisc.edu/campus-maps/
What is a seed swap?
A seed swap is an opportunity to share and exchange seeds you’ve grown in your garden with friends and neighbors. We welcome you to bring seeds you’ve harvested from your garden to share at this year’s Harvest Festival Seed Swap and bring home seeds others have grown. Allen Centennial Garden will be contributing seeds as well, so there will be seeds for interested folks to take home, even if you don’t have seeds of your own to share.
Plan to get to the Festival early for the best selection. Those who come at noon with seeds to contribute to the event will have first pick of available seeds when the swap goes live at 12:30pm.
Will food be available?
Babcock Dairy Store, located a few blocks away at 1605 Linden Dr., will be open on Saturday, October 4 from 11am until 4pm. They offer coffee, sandwiches, ice cream, and more.
The 2025 Harvest Folk Festival is supported by a grant from the Brittingham Wisconsin Trust. Support also comes from Driftless Seed Supply and the Friends of Allen Centennial Garden.
Additional event support comes from the following UW-Madison units:
- Center for the Study of Upper Midwestern Cultures
- Folklore Program
- Department of German, Nordic, Slavic+
- American Indian & Indigenous Studies Program
- Center for Culture, History, and the Environment (Nelson Institute)
- Latin American, Caribbean, and Iberian Studies Program
- Freshman Interest Group program of the College of Letters and Science
- Reilly-Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment
Please reach out if you would like to learn more about sponsoring this event!