Cranberry Festival - Alex Weber

I never considered myself a fan of cranberries, however, volunteering back in October for the Cranberry Festival was an extremely fun and rewarding experience. It was located at Black Moshannon State Park. Our APO volunteers were spread among many different activities stations, that attending kids could participate in: leaf pressing, drop the cranberry in the jar, and candle dipping. Having split my time among leaf pressing and candle dipping, I can certainly say the best part was seeing so many kids excited to celebrate the fall through our activities. It was especially entertaining to watch the kids’ patience be put to the test with candle dipping; it is a very slow process and took me about 45 to make a decent-sized candle. Some kids lost interest immediately, but one boy diligently dipped his candle for two hours, creating the most massive piece of wax I’ve ever seen.  The parents were especially grateful for our help making sure the children didn’t get burned on the hot wax. What was even better was that we all got to make our own candles with the leftover wax on the end! Overall, it was a very memorable day and I am very glad I participated!