Harvest festival brought strangers together

Dear Editor,

I am new to Vermont and did not know a soul when apple season started. The town harvest festival had a pie contest, a fiddle group, and a long table where you could sit even if you brought nothing.

An older couple shared their cider. A farmer explained which apples were best for baking. By sunset I had three invitations to Thanksgiving—not out of pity, out of habit. This town feeds people.

— Hannah Brooks