SOUTHWICK — For the third consecutive year, the town’s Agricultural Commission is organizing its annual Open Farm Day, which has quickly become one of the summer’s “go to” events in town.
“We were very surprised at the turnout we got,” said Burt Hansen about the large number of people who attended, despite nearly nonstop rain during last year’s event.
“And with that success last year, we’re very excited about this year. We’re really starting to get some momentum,” he said.
Open Farm Day was started three years ago to introduce area residents to the importance of agriculture to the town’s economy and to also offer them a chance to peek inside a farming operation.
“Open Farm Day is to build connection, recognition and respect for the work farmers do in our community,” said Hansen about the free event, which will run 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 17.
There are nine farms that will participate in this year’s event.
Calabrese Farm, at 257 Feeding Hills Rd., will once again be offering free grilled corn — a big hit last year, Hanson said — and Moolicious Farm will have its truck there giving out free samples of ice cream using blueberries and strawberries grown by the Calabreses.
Blossoming Acres, located at 249 College Hwy., will again offer hayrides around its produce fields, weather permitting.
Despite last year’s rain, those who attended the event insisted on the Blossoming Acres hayrides, he said.
It will also be offering visitors fresh vegetables, fruits, annuals and perennials, cut flowers, and in-store baked goods, including free vegetable- and flower-shaped sugar cookies.
For those who want to see, nuzzle and pet farm animals, Firefly Fields at 9 Babbs Rd. will be the place to be.
“They were the biggest draw last year,” Hansen said.
Firefly has plenty of friendly livestock that love to be petted, and while there visitors can pick up some homemade goat milk soap, eggs and seasonal produce.
There will be even more livestock to see at Solek Farms. At 230 Granville Rd., the Solek family raises corn, wheat, soybeans, hay and Herefordshire cattle. Hansen said the Soleks will also have on display antique tractors and the implements they used to work the fields.
Also at the Solek Farm will be a honeybee apiary, called 413B, which will share with visitors its demonstration hive with live bees and a taste of the honey it processes from the hives.
On Sheep Pasture Road, Karen Arnold, the wife of tobacco farmer Dwight Arnold, will again give away sunflowers she’s grown on a patch near the Arnold farm, he said.
Arnold, who grows shade and broadleaf tobacco, will also give folks the rare opportunity to see, and smell, the tobacco leaves curing inside one of his many barns.
Hansen said that last year, Dwight Arnold told him he had never answered so many questions for visitors curious about growing tobacco.
During a visit to the Arnold farm, he will also walk folks through a tobacco barn that was built in the 1870s by his great-grandfather, who was the first Arnold to grow tobacco in Southwick.
Growing flowers, shrubs, herbs and succulents, Coward Farms, at 150 College Hwy., will provide a chance for folks to learn about how they grow Christmas trees and see its automated greenhouse. The Cowards grow balsam, Fraser and concolor firs, and blue spruce.
Kline View Stables, at 53 Kline Rd., will be open to show folks the work involved in boarding and training horses. It will also be offering free pony rides during Farm Day, he said.
Also on the tour is Bisi Farm, a former dairy operation at 146 South Longyard Rd. Hansen said the farm’s property backs up to Provin Mountain, and its owner, Roger Bisi, will take folks on a tractor ride into those areas. He suggested visitors have their cameras ready to shoot some spectacular photos.
Gran-Val Scoop, at 223 Granby Rd., Granville, is well-known for its handmade ice cream, but it also has several friendly farm animals families can enjoy petting. It will also run wagon rides during Farm Day.
The Southwick Historical Society will host a special open house at its museum properties at 86-88 College Hwy., the Joseph Moore House and Charles Gillett Cigar Factory. Two of the society’s docents will discuss the history of farming, including ice harvesting, in Southwick.
Families or individuals can also pick up a “passport” at whichever site they visit first. At each farm, they can have their passport stamped, and stickers will also be handed out for free, Hansen said.
As in the first two years of the event, volunteers are vitally important for its success, Hansen said.
He said seven members of Southwick Regional School’s National Honor Society have already signed up to help, but more volunteers are needed.
Volunteers work in three-hour “shifts” so they’re not tied up all day and can visit farms, too, he said.
“This, of course, means we need twice as many volunteers,” he said, adding that where over 50 who volunteered last year.
“I’m sure we’ll have that many again,” he said.
He will also be reaching out to Big Y for volunteers again this year.
A volunteer orientation meeting will take place on Saturday, Aug. 9, from 10-11:30 a.m. at Town Hall.
