Break out your pumpkins, squash and wild squirrel meat. The Harvest Festival is back in full force this weekend, this year partnering with the Local Wild Food Challenge to bring a selection of locally sourced raccoon, deer, squirrel and more to Island palates.
The competition, which invites cooks of all experience levels to prepare a dish using hunted or foraged Island ingredients, joins a variety of autumnal attractions at the Agricultural Hall this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. This is the first year the Local Wild Food Challenge has found a home with the Harvest Festival, after hosting adventurous eaters everywhere from Détente to the FARM Institute.
“We’ve been talking about bringing it to the festival for years,” festival organizer and Agriculture Society executive director Lauren Lynch said. “We’re just happy to be hosting.”
For those who can’t stomach the great outdoors, the West Tisbury Farmers’ Market will also be there, offering its bounty.
“The festival has really evolved over the years,” Ms. Lynch said. “It’s great to have the farmers’ market here this year so people who may not normally go will get to see it and intermingle. It’s a very symbiotic thing.”
Other activities include a hay ride, a maze, tractor demonstrations, pumpkin carving and a medieval archery show complete with unicorns. The Amity Island Horse Archers hold their practices at the Ag Hall every Sunday, co-organizer Kristy Rose explained, and bring a flair of showmanship to every performance.
“Last year they were skeletons,” she said. “They put a lot of work into the costumes, into the unicorn costumes…archery is already kind of medieval, so they’re just jazzing it up.”
Both organizers see the Harvest Festival as a thank you to the Island’s farming community and are excited to see how it has grown since its inception in 2017.
“It’s the perfect time to celebrate our great farms and farmers,” Ms. Rose said. “Things are finally slowing down, so we have time to come out and spend time with our neighbors.”
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