Although much of the Michiana community seems to come to life during the summer with thousands traveling to our beaches, filling summer homes and getting out and about for various other summer activities, the region’s most beautiful season is just beginning.

While tourism dollars certainly do a lot to keep southwest Michigan alive and running in the summer, equally important is the region’s booming agriculture, which culminates with the harvest in autumn.

Just as our communities host summer festivals to celebrate warm weather, a slew of festivals celebrating the fruits of area farmers’ labor is planned throughout the next few weeks.

This weekend, thousands will travel to Niles to celebrate the city’s most popular event: The Four Flags Area Apple Festival.

Festivities began two weeks ago with the annual pageant, and last weekend the Apple Festival celebrated the region’s young population with Youth Day.

This weekend, a long list of activities including the Grande Parade, a lip sync contest, an antique car show, live entertainment and a number of autumn and apple-related contests will help everyone celebrate the Niles community and the region’s most popular produce.

Next weekend, Dowagiac will celebrate the harvest with the annual Under the Harvest Moon Festival, offering a tractor show, sidewalk sales, a scarecrow contest, street performers and more.

The week after that, Buchanan will celebrate with Harvest Buchanan. Festivities include the third annual McCoy Creek Trail 5K Run/Walk, a farmers market, a motorcycle ride and lots of local food.

We love that each communiy has its own way of celebrating the upcoming autumn season. While the goal of each event is ultimately the same, each festival offers participants a number of unique ways to celebrate fall and all of the hard work that goes into the harvest — and that’s wonderful!

For more information of any of these activities, visit leaderpub.com or offthewater.com.

As these opportunities present themselves throughout the next few weeks, we encourage area residents to get out of their comfort zones and stray to neighboring towns. When there are so many opportunities to celebrate arguably the most beautiful season in southwest Michigan,  why not enjoy it as many weekends as possible?

Go for a drive through southwest Michigan’s country roads. Surround yourself with the changing colors, the brisk air and as much cinnamon-apple-caramel goodness as you can get your hands on.

 

Opinions expressed are those of the editorial board consisting of Publisher Michael Caldwell and editors Ambrosia Neldon, Craig Haupert, Ted Yoakum and Scott Novak.