Seasonal Festivals
Throughout Prairie Flower's history, seasonal festivals have been important milestones by which we have gathered as a community, honored and shared in Earth's shifting Northern palettes and experienced that cyclical ebb and flow of Nature's seasons.
As we've grown and adapted to our present location at Bethesda Lutheran Church, how we celebrate the seasons as a community has needed to shift and evolve also. We are still working through these evolutions.
While we no longer observe these seasonal festivals in the same ways, we invite you to read the details below about what our underlying philosophy towards seasonal festivals has been – and what they looked like for a notable swath of our history.
As we've grown and adapted to our present location at Bethesda Lutheran Church, how we celebrate the seasons as a community has needed to shift and evolve also. We are still working through these evolutions.
While we no longer observe these seasonal festivals in the same ways, we invite you to read the details below about what our underlying philosophy towards seasonal festivals has been – and what they looked like for a notable swath of our history.
"Winter, spring, summer, fall, we journey through them all."
The seasons carry us and each embrace us with their particular hue of natural rhythm. With each seasonal event, we take time to prepare and to anticipate. Then the day of celebration brings nourishment for soul and body, creating a deeper relationship to that time of the year as well as an increased sense of community.
These seasonal events are celebrated with the entire Prairie Flower community; the calendar has details of the times and locations.
These seasonal events are celebrated with the entire Prairie Flower community; the calendar has details of the times and locations.
Harvest Fest
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With Harvest Fest, we celebrate the beginning of a new school year, the coming together of a growing school community and the coming of autumn. This event is centered on a potluck, and is typically held in the first month of the school year.
In the fall, Prairie Flower also has a long tradition of having the preschool children take a field trip to Berry Patch Farm. Parents and caregivers come along and enjoy a walk to the pumpkin patch to pick pumpkins together. |
Winter Faire
This event is a fundraiser, and is open and promoted to the entire community in Ames and surrounding towns. Families make and donate, or secure donations, from local businesses, friends and family, etc. These items include handmade goods and baked goods to sell at the event.
Popular items in the past have included water bottle slings, foraging pouches, knitted hats, art supply kids, painted wooden blocks, seasonal decorations, Waldorf-style dolls or gnome babies, gift baskets, ecofriendly home goods and baked goods. Prairie Flower also typically provides snacks, and stories or activities for kids.
Popular items in the past have included water bottle slings, foraging pouches, knitted hats, art supply kids, painted wooden blocks, seasonal decorations, Waldorf-style dolls or gnome babies, gift baskets, ecofriendly home goods and baked goods. Prairie Flower also typically provides snacks, and stories or activities for kids.
Warm Hearts Festival
This festival encourages preschool-kindergarten and PoemTree families and teachers to gather in friendship in the dark, cold month of February. Together, we take note of the coming warmth. The festival begins in the cold outdoors with a hike together and celebrations of gratitude, and concludes in the coziness of our own Prairie Flower spaces with a potluck and a short play by the preschool children.
May Fest
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Our community of families gathers each year with garlands, ribbons, dancing and singing around the May pole – a potluck, a beautiful May cake, games and storytelling are all part of how we celebrate the warmth of sun and warm winds and show our gratitude for the season and its gifts.
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