The Peru Gazette

Free Family-Friendly Harvest Celebration at Essex County Fairgrounds

WESTPORT, NY- Celebrate the harvest season and learn about agriculture in the Adirondack region at the 2023 Adirondack Harvest Festival on Saturday, September 23rd from 12 to 5 PM at the Essex County Fairgrounds.

This free, family-friendly event features a large farmers’ market, local food trucks, a “Local Libations” tent, hands-on workshops, kids’ activities, a farm animal petting zoo, draft horse wagon rides and more. 

This year’s theme of the Adirondack Harvest Festival is “Local Fiber and Wool”- with demonstrations highlighting how locally harvested materials are transformed into functional everyday objects like clothing, baskets, paper, shoes, and much more. Attendees can also participate in hands-on workshops such as paper-making, hand-weaving for beginners, and botanical dying for an additional charge. 

The Adirondack Harvest Festival is unique in that it specifically highlights locally grown food and products and the farmers’ market this year will feature 30+ vendors. Local food and drink will be available for purchase from Crown Point Bread Co., Farmers Cone Creamery, Green Goddess Natural Market, Grilled Cheese Fundraiser for the Wadham’s Library, Orta Foods, Papa Duke’s BBQ, Ye Olde Phat Dragon Bakery, Rivermede Farm Market and Taste of Lahore. 

Inside the Local Libations Tent, Ausable Brewing Company and Oval Craft Brewing will be selling and serving pints of their local craft beers. Otter Creek Winery, which uses grapes sourced from the Adirondacks and other NYS locations, will also be vending their wines and wine slushies by the glass. 

There will be live music by Annie & the Hedonists, Crackin’ Foxy and Ploughman’s Lunch. Visitors can bring lawn chairs or blankets to enjoy the music on the grass all afternoon. 

Kids’ activities will be offered continuously in the Young Farmers’ Circle, including face painting and fiber-related arts and crafts. There will be three free guided workshops for kids, including Finger Knitting, Natural Tie Dye, and Felted Soap. 

Champlain Area Trails also hosts a guided pre-festival hike at 10 am that begins at the Essex County Fairgrounds, loops through farmland and forest, then returns to the Fairgrounds so hikers can enjoy the Festival. This event will be hosted rain or shine! Participants are encouraged to bring cash to the farmers’ market. See other event details and FAQ atadirondackharvest.com/festival.

The Adirondack Harvest Festival is organized by Cornell Cooperative Extension of Essex County’s Adirondack Harvest program and is free to attend and enjoy thanks to our generous sponsors, including the Adirondack Land Trust, Chazy Westport Communications & Westelcom, Champlain Area Trails, Cloudsplitter Foundation, Essex County Farm Bureau, Rivermede Farm Market, Sylvamo, The Town of Westport, and others highlighted on the Festival webpage.

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