Honored by the Library of Congress Bicentennial Local Legacies Project in 2000, Harvest Homecoming, a festival drawing hundreds of thousands of visitors to New Albany, Indiana, has been thriving and growing for 41 years. It was conceived as a means of bringing the people of southern Indiana together to share in its wealth of talent, historic background and beauty.
What is now over a week of events began as a three-day "Pumpkin Festival," a civic effort by the Tourism Bureau of the New Albany Chamber of Commerce, and is now run exclusively by Harvest Homecoming, Inc.
The 42nd Harvest Homecoming Festival will be held in October of 2009. Opening ceremonies include a parade featuring over 200 units (Parade grand marshals have included Olympic bronze medalist, Doug Sharp, basketball great David Robinson, Colonel Harlan Sanders, Davy Jones of the Monkees, Hans Conreid, Archie Campbell, James "The Virginian" Drury and Tom "Dukes of Hazard" Wopat).
