By Tom Grace
Cooperstown Bureau
The Butternut Valley
Alliance will host a summer
harvest festival at
Guy Rathbun Park in Morris
on Thursday, Aug. 13,
from 3 to 6:30 p.m.
``We’ll have home-cooking,
fresh produce and
live music,’’ Stacia Norman,
a co-chairwoman of
the group, said Friday.
Farmers will provide
fresh vegetables, and local
bluegrass and country
players will provide the
music. About 10 vendors
are expected to sell their
wares, and Vicky Lentz of
New Lisbon will demonstrate
wool processing.
By having the harvest
festival, the Alliance
hopes to support local
agriculture and give people
a good reason to get
together, she said. ``This
will be the farmers’ market,
and more.’’
Group member Ben
Friedman said the BVA’s
mission is to support
farming and protect the
environment in the watershed
of the Butternut
Creek, which stretches
from Burlington to Mount
Upton.
``It’s a beautiful area,
but we could do a lot
more to support our local
farmers,’’ he said. ``Why
eat food from Mexico or
some other faraway place,
when you can buy it from
someone here, especially
at this time of year?’’
At the festival, venders
will sell meats, eggs,
cheeses, baked goods and
plants in addition to produce.
Ice cream will be
given away and activities
organized for children.
Seeds and plants will
be sold, and a bundle of
produce will be raffled
off, said Friedman.
“We hope the festival
will become an annual
event, which will boost
the BVA’s goal of building
a stronger sense of community,”
said Bob Eklund
in an e-mail to The Daily
Star. Eklund is a BVA cochairman.
The festival is made
possible by a $1,000 grant
from Pure Catskills’ “Buy
Local Campaign,” and the
Center for Agricultural
Development and Entrepreneurship,
according to
the BVA.
Eklund said the money
will be used to promote
the festival.
