Published July 11, 2024
Free Small Farm & Food Fest celebrates sustainable living, healthy eating, debuts new trail
Five Rivers MetroParks will host Small Farm & Food Fest on Saturday, Aug. 3, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at Carriage Hill MetroPark, 7800 E. Shull Rd. This free, all-ages festival offers hands-on activities, demonstrations, local speakers and a pop-up farmer’s market that focuses on healthy eating and sustainable living.
Festivalgoers will experience modern-day and historical farming techniques, along with gardening, food preparation, cooking, homesteading and home sustainability information. The event will be hosted at the Carriage Hill MetroPark visitor center, historical farm and farmhouse.
New this year, visitors will also be able to visit the farm’s permanent historical trail, which invites trailgoers to take a step back to simpler times and explore life on a working farm in the 1880s. The .75-mile natural surface Carriage Hill Family Farm Trail includes stops where visitors can imagine the park when it was home to the Arnold Family, landowners from the 1830s to 1916.
Demonstrations, workshops and activities are ongoing from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and include:
- Food & Gardening: Floral and heirloom vegetable display; exotic fruit stand; and canned goods display
- Life on the Farm: Blacksmithing and woodworking
- Family Fun: Children’s games, steam engine with complimentary steamed corn and wagon rides
- Live animals: Draft horse demonstrations and historic breeds of livestock
- Textiles: Rope making and textile display
Additionally, visitors are welcome to visit the pop-up farmers market offering a variety of goods, from produce and native plants to handcrafted soaps and beyond. Community organizations and small businesses will also be on site, sharing their expertise on food systems, composting, gardening, outdoor education and more.
Local speakers will explore a variety of topics beginning at 10 a.m. Speakers will be in the Daniel Arnold Barn and display barn on the historical farm. Topics covered are:
- Benefits of Farm Fresh Eggs: Bryna Chandler, Drunken Duck Farm & Mallard’s Landing Sanctuary
- Fermenting: Making Your Own Kombucha: Dawn Kirchner, Full Circle Brewgarden
- Chickens or Bees: Profiting on a Small Farm: Andrea Hancock, Happy Wife Acres
- Growing and Cooking Heirloom Tomatoes: Betty Hoevel, Five Rivers MetroParks
- Fall Planting for Earlier and Better Spring Flowers: Wendy Brubaker, Morningside Meadows Flower Farm
- Coffee 101: Michael Thomas, Poppets Coffee
- Growing Mushrooms at Home: Michael Goldstick, Guided by Mushrooms
Food from a variety of local food trucks, including McNastys, Pa’s Pork, I Heart Ice Cream, Kona Shaved Ice, Travelin’ Toms Coffee, The Lumpia Queen, and El Buen Taco will be on site.
All food vendors will be participating in MetroParks’ waste-free initiative. Visitors can help keep MetroParks keep Small Farm & Food Fest a waste-free event by bringing a reusable water bottle and visiting the designated waste stations where volunteers will help festivalgoers sort their trash.
Learn more about Five Rivers MetroParks’ Small Farm & Food Fest, supported by Apple Farm Service and media sponsor Edible Ohio Valley, at metroparks.org/farmfest.
