From Unity to Fall: How Duskmoor's Celebrations Have Changed with the Seasons

Every autumn, the people of Duskmoor gather to mark the turning of the leaves, the cooling of the air, and the comfort of community. Today, we call it the Fall Festival: a week of food stalls, craft booths, music, and laughter in the town square. But older residents will remember that it was not always so.

When the Unity Fair first began in the late 1800s, it carried a far different spirit. The fair was conceived as a way to bring together the millworkers and landowners, farmers and townsfolk, Moorthornes and Duskbaines alike. It was practical as much as it was celebratory: produce was exchanged, sawmill accounts were settled, and community disputes were often aired, and hopefully, resolved before winter locked the valley in.

In those days, the Unity Fair lasted a single afternoon. Lanterns were strung from wooden posts, music was provided by fiddlers and hand drums, and supper was shared communally in long rows of benches. The fair ended with a symbolic lantern walk, townsfolk marching together through the streets to "show their light" and, as one early newspaper put it, "remind the dark hills that unity keeps the hearth warm."

Over the years, as Duskmoor changed, so too did its fair. The Unity Fair gradually lost its serious, civic tone, giving way to a more lighthearted celebration. By the mid-20th century, children's games, pie-baking contests, and pumpkin carving had taken center stage. In time, the name shifted as well, and by the 1970s, the Fall Festival had replaced the Unity Fair entirely.

Still, echoes of the old tradition remain. The lantern walk has never disappeared (though fewer remember its original meaning). Some say the walk is just for fun, a parade for children to carry candles and lanterns. Others whisper that its origins tie back to something older, a way of warding off the "shadows" said to stir when the nights lengthen.

Today's Fall Festival may look brighter, shinier, and far more commercial than the Unity Fair of old, but at its heart it still serves the same purpose: bringing Duskmoor together as the year tips toward winter.