Buena Vista Ski Area held their annual Fall Colors Festival this past weekend. The event’s been a part of the Bemidji community for 30 years and features folk music, vendors, horse rides, and more to let visitors take in the season and re-experience the past.

“This event is so special to so many families because it we’re recreating history by kind of living in the past with the wagons, the tractors, the – just to see the joy in people’s faces when they can walk in,” said Buena Vista owner Suzanne Thomas. “And it’s seeing the replicas of the past 100 years.”

The festival brings out people from all over to enjoy and learn about the history in front of them. It encourages families to gather together and take part in the fall celebrations.

“We just had my mom, Mariann Dickinson, come,” said Thomas. “She is attending and she lives in town. But it’s so special to have her here. My Aunt Muffy is playing the piano and the four daughters and our good friends are all here just to show that we’ll continue all these events, you know, each year after year, because we know what brings families together.”

The Fall Colors Festival does bring families together, and it has something new every year to do just that.

“It’s just a wonderful place to have fun,” said Wendell Knutson. “Always something new, always something different. And yet some of the old is always here.”

By — Zy'Riah Simmons