The Hillsdale Railroad Festival will return for its second year this Saturday with a historical train journey and activities like apple-picking, chainsaw carving demonstrations, and live music in Hillsdale County.
The program starts with a train ride from Hillsdale to Crossroads Farm in nearby Reading, where visitors can enjoy a corn maze and orchard strolls. An hour later, the train takes visitors back for a fall-themed block party with live music and food trucks in Hillsdale’s Courthouse Square.
According to the Indiana Rail Experience website, the festival “celebrates the city’s railroad legacy with family-friendly fun and historic charm.”
Fort Wayne Railroad Historical Society, a nonprofit group that seeks to preserve railroad attractions, is putting on the event. Its programs connect three states, Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana, and 80,000 people have ridden on its trains since 2022.
“My favorite part is the fact that this is a train that takes people to a destination, and even though it is a train with cars from the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s, it’s performing both a function as an attraction, as a ride, as an experience, but it also has a purpose, which is to connect people from point A to point B,” said Kelly Lynch, executive director of the society and founder of the event.
Lynch also emphasized a desire for more events like this in the Hillsdale community in an effort to give back to the community.
“We’re looking and collaborating with a lot of entities in Hillsdale to further develop tourism,” he said. We’re looking to make Hillsdale more of a regular origination point and a stop for our trips. The more people we can carry, the more people we can attract, the more events we have, and the more we can do in towns like Hillsdale, the more these communities will benefit long-term,” he said. “That really brings it home for us because we’re trying to celebrate our culture and our traditions. We’re trying to expose as many people to what we love, what we preserve and what we share as possible.”
Hillsdale Assistant City Manager Sam Fry said that the Indiana Rail Experience has been a great way for people to experience the city.
“They’ve been visiting Hillsdale for the last 4 years, so we’ve been able to welcome thousands of guests and passengers to downtown Hillsdale,” Fry said. “We’re very excited to continue that partnership and keep working with them on these events. The railroad and autumn festival event coming up this weekend should be a lot of fun.”
The next Indiana Rail Experience coming to Hillsdale is the annual Charitable Christmas Train, where Santa comes to town to give out gifts. That event will be in late November.
