Although it was an overcast day on Sunday, a good crowd showed up for the Friends of Beltzville State Park second annual Fall Festival.

Activities included making a scarecrow using old clothes and newspaper, finding hidden pumpkins and painting them and stenciling a variety of animals on a piece of wood.

Children also could go fishing led by Friends Of Beltzville member Joe Szwajkowski and enjoy story time sitting on bales of hay.

There was a hike led by Friends member Debbie DeBeauclair, and Master Gardener Diane Giffles did a presentation about gardening.

Throughout the event there was music from Godfrey Daniels in Bethlehem and food available from the Chicken Lady food truck.

Bake sale items were also available, including cookies made with rolled oats, peanut butter and chocolate.

The Friends Arts and Crafts group had trees made from magazines, pumpkins made from books and handcrafted tree ornaments available for sale.

Three 10th graders from the Environmental Club at Palmerton High School helped out.

Isabella Catania said, “I love cleaning up and helping people” is why she joined the club. The group has 100 members who volunteer to clean up the school campus and do “everything to protect and clean up our environment.”

Park rangers from other parks also helped with the event. Kevin Kitzhoffer started as a member of Friends of Beltzville and was treasurer in 2015.

He reached his goal of being an interpretive ranger. “It starts with the people watching and seeing people enjoying being outdoors,” Kitzhoffer said.

There were opportunities to learn about “Leave No Trace” and understand how to respect the environment.

One booth taught how long certain things take to decompose. It was enlightening to learn that tires take 2,000 years, glass bottles 1 million years and Styrofoam never.

The American Academy of Canine Water Rescue had Newfoundland dogs to meet before a demonstration of how the dogs with water rescues. Emma Rosenberg, 10, said “I loved water rescue dogs and I want to give all my life savings to help them.”

Representatives from the Delaware and Lehigh National Heritage Corridor, the state police and other environmental organizations also had booths.