Winston-Salem, N.C. –

Celebrate the arrival of autumn on Saturday, October 17, when Old Salem Museums & Gardens presents Harvest Day, a fun-filled and educational festival with a focus on grain and its many uses.

Harvest Day, which runs from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., will feature historic demonstrations and hands-on activities about grain, the most important and useful crop for Moravians in Salem. Visitors can learn about beer and hops, straw and bedding, baking bread and the use of grains in medicine. Hands-on activities include making corn husk dolls and cooking and tasting rice fritters.

Don't miss the premiere performance of the Heirloom Puppet Theater's newest puppet show, "A Cheesy Tale with a Shred of Truth," at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the Horton Museum Center.

Harvest Day activities are included with an All-in-One ticket to Old Salem Museums & Gardens. For more information, call the Visitor Center at 336-721-7350.

About Old Salem

Old Salem Museums & Gardens is one of America's most comprehensive history attractions. Its four museums — the Historic Town of Salem, the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA), the Old Salem Children's Museum, and the Old Salem Toy Museum — engage visitors in an educational and memorable historical experience about those who lived and worked in the early South. The Web site address is http://www.oldsalem.org/