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By MEGAN WILLIAMS

FOR THE FREE LANCE-STAR

The best way to learn about fall and harvesting is to get outdoors. For a museum, though, venturing outside of glass display cases can be a challenge.

But the Harvest Festival, hosted by the Fredericksburg Area Museum and Cultural Center, will do just that--and give kids and adults alike a chance to lean about nature.

The Harvest Festival is part of a series started a year ago, called Second Saturdays at the Museum. This free program offers kids a chance to get some hands-on experience, while learning about one of the museum's current exhibits.

"It's a way for kids to actually do something and interact with history in a unique way, instead of seeing it through a piece of glass," said Jason Pope, the museum's manager of public programs.

With Thanksgiving approaching, the Harvest Festival will focus on the theme of the season of plenty. Children's activities--including leaf rubbing, drawings, animal prints and more--will teach about how, throughout history, fall and nature provided colonists and American Indians the resources needed to make it through a hard, cold winter.

There will also be volunteers at the festival who will discuss these themes with kids and their families.

Festival-goers will also learn how agriculture has changed in the area from the time of the colonists to today.

At the end of the two-hour event, participants will have produced a "Guide to Fall" nature book. The museum itself will also be open during this time for visitors.

For the museum--celebrating its 21st year in Fredericksburg--the chance to bring history into the community is one of the perks of the fest and the Second Saturdays and the museum program as a whole.

"I think this is a unique opportunity for us to get out in open space, and really show people that we do more than just put things in cases," Pope said. "We do a lot more than that."

Megan Williams is a Fredericksburg writer.