ASHFIELD — With peak fall colors decorating the hillsides, it was a picturesque weekend for visitors to enjoy the beloved Ashfield Fall Festival.

While the event’s food sales raise money for town programs throughout the year, and a tag sale and parking fundraiser collects thousands of dollars annually to support college scholarships, perhaps no one enjoys the fall festival as much as the children.

Ashfield Fall Festival Committee Chair Phil Pless described the event as free child care on the common, where kids from Ashfield and beyond are free to run around and enjoy the many games and activities the festival has to offer.

In fact, some of these activities are offered by children, for children. Kids run carnival games, all built by hand and passed down through the generations on the town common on Saturday and Sunday. They are run by mostly middle and high school students from Ashfield. Pless described the feat as “Business 101.”

“My favorite part of the festival is the children’s games,” Pless said. “Elementary school and high school children are learning basic principles of business: supply, demand, inventory, cost expenses and labor. The games are so creative.”

One such game, “Marble Run,” has been overseen by either 9-year old Sawyer Drury or his older brother for the past six years. The game works by dropping a marble at the top of the long device made of pieces of plywood, with players aiming for one of the holes near the top. If the marble lands in one of the first five holes, the player gets two pieces of candy of their choice: a chocolate bar, a lollipop or a Jolly Rancher. If the marble lands in holes six to 10, the player gets one piece of candy.

The secret to winning the game, Sawyer advised, is to aim for the flags at the top.

The carnival games, of which there were 12 this year, are no cheap enterprise. To get one of these games passed down, the children have to buy it from an older entrepreneur, which can cost anywhere from $200 to $400. However, the games can make the new owner a pretty penny once the investment has been made. Lines of eager players form throughout the two-day festival, and each play costs $1.

Many of the games are run by siblings, including “Firefighter 101” run by siblings Seraphina, 17, and James Gibson, 14. The game consists of two slingshots mounted to a table where people stand and shoot bean bags at a wooden model house, with fake flames depicted in the windows. If a player can hit five “flames,” they win the grand prize of a giant candy bar or toy. The siblings bought the game in 2018 from a family friend who originally built it.

New to this year’s festival was a darts game made by 10-year-old Ann Brooks. She constructed the game from embroidery hoops and scrap wood. Participants attempt to throw darts — made from corn cobs and goose feathers — through the hoops.

Ann explained she played a similar version of the game at her homeschool co-op and she thought it would be a perfect addition to the festival, so she got to work building it. The grand prize from the game is a bouncy ball, but other, smaller prizes include erasers and Tootsie Rolls.

“It is really fun to do this,” Ann said of running a game.

Also fun for children at the festival is the fidget ladder. Participants attempt to climb the ladder and ring a bell at the top to earn a sticker that reads “I rang the bell,” a source of pride among attendees. Climbing the ladder is difficult, though, because it is mounted from either end by only one point so it easily flips, sending the climber falling down to a pile of crash pads.

Once the Ashfield Fall Festival returned following a hiatus amid the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the popular fidget ladder did not come with it due to a lack of volunteers. This year, Ashfield-based Double Edge Theatre took over running the fidget ladder, allowing children to make the climb once again.

“Kiddos have been coming,” said Hannah Jarrell Jeremy, a member of Double Edge’s ensemble who was volunteering at the ladder game. “They already know the game and are excited to try.”

Each game spread out on the town common, many returning year after year, proves to be a source of entertainment not only for the players, but for those running them.

“It’s fun growing up here,” said Seraphina Gibson, “and being able to see the community and be part of it in this way.”

Bella Levavi can be reached at 413-930-4579 or blevavi@recorder.com.