Benjamin Hernandez, Contributing Photographer

This Saturday the 14th annual Fall Fest returned to Yale. Throughout the afternoon Old Campus came alive with flanneled students, pumpkin patches, field games and small autumn eats. 

Connecticut-based rock duo Furious George provided live music.

“Fall Fest is one of my favorite Yale traditions, Anna Bernstein ’25 said. “My friends and I look forward to it weeks in advance. We’re sure to get there right when it opens to enjoy the atmosphere — but most importantly we can try each menu item because they are all so delicious.” 

At the heart of the Yale Hospitality-hosted celebration was the food. The festival included 12 tented booths, each representative of a residential college and serving a unique cultural dish. This year’s menu featured everything from tamarind drinks to kimchi fried rice to churros and Mexican hot chocolate with chili.

“Fall Fest brings out the best in everybody. The sun, the music, and all the good food — it makes everything feel very celebratory,” Rose Hansen ’25 said. 

Hansen then pointed to the face paint on her cheek and noted the various other carnival activities that characterized the afternoon: balloon-twisting, whack-a-ball, basketball and art. Fall Fest has always shown the best parts of being at Yale, she said. 

As the day brought back warm memories from last year’s celebration for some, others, especially first-year students, remarked on how Fall Fest was one of the earliest emblems of college-wide community-building for them. 

“I feel like it’s like the first activity where most people are actually coming out to get really involved,” Stephanie Montealegre ’26 said, posing for a photo among a pumpkin patch with her friend Alex Guzman Caceres ’26. 

Caceres added that the prospect of meeting people from her year — even if it was just to say hi — made it worth it to walk “all the way from” her residential dorm in Timothy Dwight College. 

Monteaelgre noted the cultural diversity and told the News she enjoyed how the food was not “strictly from the dining hall.”

Guzman and Montelagre also described Fall Fest as among the first events that really cultivates bonding among first year students, especially because it is on Old Campus. 

Other first-years also enjoyed their first Fall Fest experience. 

“Fall Fest was a marvelous event, but as I expected, Handsome Dan stole the show. Above all else, I’d like to thank the Yale Hospitality staff for going above and beyond with the festivities,” Andrew Beingessner ’26 said. 

Yale Hospitality worker Leroy James told the News that he woke up for work at 6 a.m. on the day of the event, and they started setting up the day prior. James said the menu for the event had stayed the same for two years before, so he was excited to “switch it up.”

Yale Hospitality’s office is located at 246 Church St.