The University of California, Davis, will kick off autumn with Harvest: A Gathering of Food, Wine, Beer and the Arts, on Sunday, Oct. 12.

The campus’s Gateway District (south entry) will be the site of an overflowing cornucopia of family-oriented activities, including “The Art of Science” and food sensory booths, all meant to provide a deeper understanding of the university’s role in food and agriculture. The day wraps up with a concert by the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne.

Harvest combines the resources of the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science, World Food Center, Arboretum and Public Garden, Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, Nelson Gallery, and the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art.

Harvest is open to the public, and all events are free with the exception of a food, wine and beer tasting event in the Good Life Garden (at the Robert Mondavi Institute) and the LaMontagne concert (at the Mondavi Center).

Get up close with plants and art

The day kicks off at 1 p.m. on the Wyatt Deck in the arboretum with performances and hands-on demonstrations exploring "The Art of Science.”

At 2 p.m. family activities including a science café featuring food sensory booth curated by the World Food Center, face painting, music, petting zoo, pumpkin decorating, food trucks and the Davis Rocknasium climbing wall can be found in and around the Vanderhoef Quad, and in the Corin Courtyard outside the Mondavi Center. The Nelson Gallery opens its doors at 2 p.m. for two new exhibitions.

In one of the day’s ticketed events, the Good Life Garden will showcase the region’s agriculture with tastings by 40 wineries, breweries and food purveyors from 4 to 6 p.m. Tours and tastings also are planned at the Honey and Pollination Center and the Olive Center.

The garden event also will include music and pumpkin decorating, along with a silent auction of wine, beer, Mondavi Center tickets, gift baskets, hotel stays and spa treatments.

The tasting event is sponsored by the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts, and part of the proceeds will go to UC Davis scholarships.

Admission: $20 in advance ($25 at the gate) for ages 21 years and up, $10 for ages 12 to 20, and free for ages 12 and younger. If you’re under 21, you must be accompanied by someone over 21. Advance tickets are available online.

New museum and music

The Nelson Gallery will have an opening reception, 4 to 7 p.m., for “MAKE: A New Museum for UC Davis,” an exhibition about the Jan Shrem and Maria Manetti Shrem Museum of Art (opening in the 2016-17 academic year), and the “Lake Tahoe Sonification Project,” a sound installation by music composition students, using scientific data.

Local band Arts and Leisure will give a free concert from 6 to 7 p.m. in the Corin Courtyard.

Then, at 7:30 p.m., LaMontagne will perform off his four albums, including the recently released Supernova. His concert is being presented by Another Planet Entertainment in association with the Mondavi Center and Harvest. Tickets are available online.

Getting around

Top Hand Ranch will provide free hay wagon rides between Harvest festival locations from 2 to 6 p.m., and Davis Pedicab will provide free rides between the festival and the E Street Plaza from 2 to 6:30 p.m.

Parking in the south entry garage off Old Davis Road is free before 5:30 p.m. and $9 after 5:30 p.m. All venues are within easy walking distance of parking and one another.

UC Davis is growing California

At UC Davis, we and our partners are nourishing our state with food, economic activity and better health, playing a key part in the state’s role as the top national agricultural producer for more than 50 years. UC Davis is participating in UC’s Global Food Initiative launched by UC President Janet Napolitano, harnessing the collective power of UC to help feed the world and steer it on the path to sustainability.

Full Harvest schedule

• 1-3 p.m. — "The Art of Science," Wyatt Deck, arboretum.
• 2-6 p.m. — Family Friendly Zone and World Think Tank "Science Café," with World Food Center sensory booths, pumpkin decorating, face painting, petting zoo and Rocknasium climbing wall, Vanderhoef Quad and Corin Courtyard.
• 2-7 p.m. — Nelson Gallery (Nelson Hall) open to the public.
• 4-7 p.m. — Opening reception for “MAKE: A New Museum for UC Davis” and “Lake Tahoe Sonification Project," Nelson Gallery.
• 4-6 p.m. — Food, wine and beer tasting, live music and silent auction, Good Life Garden, Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science. This event is sponsored by the Julia Child Foundation for Gastronomy and the Culinary Arts. Admission: $20 in advance ($25 at the gate) for ages 21 years and up, $10 for ages 12 to 20, and free for ages 12 and younger. If you’re under 21, you must be accompanied by someone over 21. Advance tickets are available online.
• 6-7 p.m. — Local band Arts and Leisure, Corin Courtyard, northeast corner of the Mondavi Center.
• 7:30 p.m. — Ray LaMontagne with the Belle Brigade, Jackson Hall, Mondavi Center. Tickets are available online.

UC Davis is growing California

At UC Davis, we and our partners are nourishing our state with food, economic activity and better health, playing a key part in the state’s role as the top national agricultural producer for more than 50 years. UC Davis is participating in UC’s Global Food Initiative launched by UC President Janet Napolitano, harnessing the collective power of UC to help feed the world and steer it on the path to sustainability.