Fiddlehead Festival expecting biggest crowd yet

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Last year’s Fiddlehead Festival brought hundreds of people. This year’s festival is expected to be bigger than ever.

FARMINGTON – Organizers are gearing up for larger-than-ever attendance at the Maine Fiddlehead Festival, scheduled for Saturday, May 6 on the grounds of the Emery Community Arts Center at the University of Maine Farmington.

Now in its 6th year, the local food festival attracts families and individuals throughout western Maine and beyond.

“We feel that the Fiddlehead Festival has reached a tipping point with its reputation extending beyond our geographic area now,” stated Luke Kellett, Sustainability Coordinator for UMF. “Last year people attended from all over, including out-of-state, so we expect record crowds this year.”

Originating as a celebration of local food and farming, the free outdoor festival features a wide range of attractions appealing to all ages. Live acoustic music, baby farm animals, antique tractors, local food vendors and farmers, gourmet fiddlehead cooking demonstrations, and “tent talks” on various foraging and homesteading topics are standard offerings.

A fiddlehead “walk and talk” is a perennial favorite for attendees, while other topics this year will include seed-saving, making acorn flour and bread, cooking with cannabis, making home-made pita bread, and urban foraging.

The theme of the 2017 festival is “Seeds and Breeds: Preserving Food Diversity,” in recognition of the fact that crop varieties have dwindled profoundly around the globe, but that this variety is crucial to our future food security and richness. Local and international efforts to save heirloom seeds and propagate heirloom breeds will be highlighted.

The stunning documentary, “SEED: The Untold Story,” will be shown on campus on Sunday, May 7 at 4:00 p.m. in Lincoln Auditorium at UMF. Spotlighting various efforts around the world to preserve crop diversity, the film features renowned seed-saver and homesteader Will Bonsall of Industry, Maine, who will introduce the film and lead a Q & A session following the showing.

Signed copies of the popular Will Bonsall’s Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening will be on sale at the Fiddlehead Festival.

Fiddlehead festival hours will be from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on May 6, on the Emery Arts Center grounds on Academy Street, Farmington. For more information and a schedule, visit the website www.mainefiddleheadfestival.com or the Facebook page “Local Food Day: Maine Fiddlehead Festival.”

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1 Comment

  1. Attended a wonderful fiddlehead meal at a private house a few years ago- our hostess grew her own – glad to see some recognition for this “weed!”

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