The third annual Adirondack Harvest Festival is rapidly approaching and organizers are getting extremely excited as the anticipation builds. This year the festival will be held Saturday, September 15, from noon until 6 p.m. Once again it's at the Essex County Fairgrounds, and once again attendance is free!
An exclusive pre-event dining experience
This year you have the opportunity to get a jump start on all the activity by being a special guest at a family style Long Table Dinner the evening before on the 14th from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. The Long Table Dinner, called "Seed to Celebration," will feature the best the region has to offer with fresh local foods prepared by Farmstead Catering, a well renowned Adirondack catering company especially known for their elegant, distinctive, and organic farm-to-table culinary creations. With menu features like baba ganoush with parsley, sumac and mint, pork loin and belly porchetta filled with greens, herbs and alliums, and heirloom bean cold cassoulet, the dinner promises to be the ultimate local food experience for all guests. Seating is limited, so do not linger to reserve your place at the table.
Harvest Hike
Though the festival begins at noon, arrive before 10 a.m. to participate in the the pre-festival Harvest Hike. This 5-mile hike is being organized by Champlain Area Trails (CATS) and will get to explore the new Viall’s Crossing Trail that begins and ends right at the fairgrounds. Plan on a variety of outstanding scenery, forest, rock ledges, and open fields with views of the High Peaks. The trail will circle back to the fairgrounds in time for you to join in the festivities. It will also help you work up an appetite to thoroughly enjoy the brew and food selections that will be available. A $5 suggested donation is appreciated from adults over 18; pre-register with Champlain Area Trails or on site.
Festivities
Even if you're not participating in the hike, plan on arriving a little before noon to get the best parking location and the top selections of market produce from over 30 agricultural vendors that will be in attendance to showcase their products from noon until 4 p.m. Nowhere will you get a broader, fresher selection and be able to have an exchange directly with the farmers, growers, and producers, including cheese makers, meat and sausage producers, vegetable growers, brewers, and vintners. This awesome celebration of the region’s abundance of produce, products, and flavors is a feast for the senses. Colorful harvest vegetables are creatively displayed while the food truck’s tantalizing aromas will have you wanting to savor it all.
Tip: Bring a large market bag, you will need it.
Indulge
Two of the regions top breweries, Ausable Brewing and Livingoods’s Brewery, will be serving in the beer tent. Food trucks on site will include Northern Feast, Full Cord Pizza, and Liquids & Solids. Hid-In-Pines Vineyard will also be on site to offer samples of their fine wine selections.
Food and drinks
All the fine food and thirst quenching beverages can be enjoyed to the backdrop of great live music. Favorite local bands Ploughman’s Lunch, Speedy Arnold, and Steady Benders will be there to entertain you from beginning to end.
Exhibits and demonstrations
Clustered inside and outside of the fairgrounds' historic Floral Hall building will be a selection of exhibits and farms demonstrations including cider pressing, beekeeping, constructing a wood fired oven, homemade mozzarella, vegetable fermentation, flax processing, and sheep shearing. Expand your knowledge or learn a new skill. Demonstrators are prepared to answer your many questions.
Both children and adults will enjoy a horse drawn wagon ride around the grounds with Country Dreams Farm. Also on site will be an antique tractor display to delight those vintage farm equipment enthusiasts.
At 4:15 p.m. a round table discussion called "Conversations With Our Farming Community" will be moderated in Floral Hall by David Sommerstein of North Country Public Radio.
The festival concludes at 6 p.m., but the party atmosphere will continue next door where Ledge Hill Brewing Company, at the western end of the fairgrounds, invites you to sample their local brews.
Local lodging properties invite you to make it a weekend by extending their hospitality, and you will find many dining options for breakfast the following day. We invite you to come celebrate the Adirondack harvest!