Free ‘N Rustic ‘N Fun: Farmers Market Fall Festival

Goat milking, pie eating, and washboard playing go down at Third & Fairfax.

If the modern age, social media, and marketing techniques have made us cock a collective eyebrow when we see anything too folksy or homey shoehorned into a citified setting, we can all relax when it comes to the Fall Festival at the Original Farmers Market.

Why? Because the festival is as old as the landmark market, or nearly, which means it has been goating and pumpkining up the corner of Third & Fairfax since 1934. When the Fall Festival started, there were actual farmers and pick-ups on that corner, selling apples and eggs and such.

So, points for authenticity? A win for genuine homespun-a-tude? Yes and yes, Farmers Market has it.

And will again, on Saturday, Oct. 18 and Sunday, Oct. 19. The free two-day party -- "free" being about as dang homespun as you can get -- is all about the messy-faced pie-eating contests and the goat-milking and musicians playing washboards next to musicians playing fiddles.

Oh, and that wandering scarecrow handing out buttons. That hay-headed guy is major. Beyond.

Planning an itinerary? Mapping a schedule? Nope, we're not going to recommend for such an easy-sweet tradition. Just show up, pet some animals, watch some wool spinning, admire leatherworking, and, hello hello, flintknapping will go down, just steps from the posh shops of The Grove.

LA, we love you.

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But, asterisk: Maybe maybe eye the schedule for what bands you want to see and when. Music'll fill those awning-topped stalls through the days and evenings of the weekend.

And now we'll take it all back, what we began with: Yes, it can be a bit cagey to unleash a bucolic bash onto our busy city boulevards, and it just might be a marketing ploy, but, c'mon: goats and hay and pie and the charms of the country. We'll take them, cagey or not or if they've been rocking Third & Fairfax for eighty years.

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