Chantel Rodriguez

Staff Writer

cvr5570@psu.edu

           With the first week of back to school events at Penn State Behrend ending, there’s no shortage of enjoyable, cost-friendly activities to do. Events such as the Flower Festival at Port Farms, the Frontier Park Farmer’s Market, and the SeaWolves baseball games are great places to have fun and relax with family and friends over the weekend. 

           The new annual Flower Festival at Port Farms, located in Waterford at 2055 Stone Quarry road, is perfect for an outing with friends. The Flower Festival runs from August 7th to September 12th, 2021, Thursday to Sunday, 10 am to 6 pm. General admission is only $12.95 on Thursday and Friday to Sunday admission is $14.95 at the door and $13.95 online. A ticket includes all of their farm attractions to enjoy alongside flower picking, such as the rope course, giant corn box, yard games, and many more. 

Port Farms offers five acres of vibrant sunflowers and zinnias for you to pick by the bloom or the bucket. They provide a free plastic bag, clippers to cut stems, as well as mason jars and buckets for purchase to store your flowers. They are a family and pet-friendly event so that everyone can tag along. They will have live music performances every weekend during the Flower Festival to perform outdoors, weather permitting. It’s the perfect opportunity for a tremendous colorful background photo op and budget-friendly for college students.  

Now, if you’re looking for something more local and at no cost for admission, then the outdoors Farmers Market is the place to be! Lake Erie Arboretum at Frontier, or LEAF, located at the intersection of West 8th and Bayfront Parkway, hosts its annual farmers market in Erie, rain or shine. They run every other Saturday out of the month and are halfway through the market season. The remaining dates available are September 11th and 25th, and again on October 9th and 23rd, from 10 am to 2 pm. 

LEAF opens its park to local vendors to sell all of their produce, plants, herbs, food, crafts, and art of Erie. Their open market allows for local vendors like Dragonfly Lake Scents, Majestic Baking Company, Rope & Bloom Macrame, and Sundae Vegan Desserts to showcase their goods to the public. They are a family and pet-friendly event always and have parks and walking trails available on site to enjoy afterward. You definitely will not be disappointed to make the trip. 

Just ten minutes away from Frontier Park, if you’re looking to catch a baseball game before the season is over, then heading to UPMC Park to see the SeaWolves play is a must! Their schedule runs from Tuesday to Sunday, August 31st to September 19th. The first pitch gets thrown at 6:05 pm. Each day they have various events that fans can enjoy, such as the post-game Zambelli Fireworks, Bark at the Park, which allows the fans to bring their leashed dogs into the park, and Thirsty Thursdays where everyone can enjoy Smith’s hot dogs, Pepsi fountain drinks, and popcorn for just $2 each. After every SeaWolves home game, kids 12 and younger can run the bases, weather permitting. 

Nothing says enjoying the last days of summer like spending time with friends and family enjoying what the town of Erie has to offer. With several other fun attractions around town you will be glad you didn’t miss them.