When late summer rolls around each year, it’s hard not to write about festival season.

Not that we don’t have festivals to enjoy year-round. From the ice fests of January to the holiday festivals of December, there are festivals that celebrate some facet of life in the Alleghenies virtually every month of the calendar.

But with the approach of Labor Day and the balmy late-summer days of September, festivals spill out of our event calendars much like produce from a horn of plenty. And I don’t believe that’s coincidental.

The earliest Europeans who settled within the Alleghenies were Germans and Scots-Irish. Most of them were subsistence farmers, who lived on what they could grow, raise, hunt or barter.

Decades later, waves of immigrants from other parts of Europe arrived with industrialization to work in mills and mines. Their lives were no easier.

Men worked 12-hour days for 13 days before getting a day off and pocketed about $13 for all of that labor. Women cared for their men, children and borders – and often found space in tiny backyards to grow vegetables, raise chickens and, perhaps, have a bake oven just to make ends meet.

There wasn’t much time for leisure and some periods were very hard. But after a good growing season, our ancestors could snatch a bit of time to enjoy a bountiful harvest with family and friends.

So it’s in our roots to rejoice as summer winds down. This is a natural time for us to celebrate who we are and what we have.

Considering the context, it shouldn’t be surprising that a number of our late-summer festivals have food themes. What better time to celebrate the harvest of apples or potatoes or garlic? Or, for that matter, banana splits and peanut butter?

Bear with me here andyou’ll see that allof these festival themes make sense.

The schedule starts this weekend, August 26-28, with the Great American Banana Split Celebration in Latrobe. You knew that Latrobe is where the banana split was invented, right?

At the celebration you can learn all about the inventor, David Strickler, and another guy named Ice Cream Joe, who had a lot to do with this annual downtown event that now includes entertainment, a 5K run, a variety of food booths (in addition to banana splits), a kids’ zone and farmers’ market among other attractions. BananaSplitFest.com.

There really is a Peanut Butter Festival, and you’ll find it in the Redbank Valley community of New Bethlehem during the weekend of September 16-18. The festival’s name is drawn from the community’s 70-year-heritage of making peanut butter for the J.M. Smucker Company. NewBethlehemArea.com.

Smicksburg’s Apple Fest, September 17-18, is a traditional harvest-style festival that is heavily accented by the sizable Amish presence around that Indiana County community. Horse-drawn wagon rides, country wares, home-style foods, antiques and, of course, many apple products will be offered. Smicksburg.net.

While some festivals don’t offer much that relates to their themes, that’s certainly not the case with PotatoFest, September 24. Ebensburg’s annual celebration of the Cambria County potato industry features a wide variety of potato-based foods for sale, along with 200 crafters and entertainment. PotatoFest.com.

In most ways, Elderton’s Apple Butter Festival, October 7-8, is a typical small-community festival with its kids’ rides, 5K run, car cruise and barbecue. But what sets it apart is the local Lions Club’s faithful repetition of the old community tradition of making apple butter, which will be available for sale. EldertonLions.org.

Then there are wine festivals thatcelebrate that distinctive Pennsylvania harvest, including the Wine Down Weekend in Huntingdon, September 3, Raystown.org/events; Sandyvale Wine Festival of Johnstown, September 10, SandyValeMemorialGardens.org; and the Fall Wine Fest of Indiana on September 17, VisitIndianaPA.org.

What a heritage our Alleghenies’ ancestors have given us! I’m just grateful we’ve gotten beyond subsistence farming and 12-hour work days.