The Adirondack Harvest Festival will be held at the Essex County Fairgrounds in Westport on Friday and Saturday, September 16th and 17th. The event, which celebrates local farms and farmers with food, drink, music, and hikes, is supported by supported by the Hub on the Hill, Adirondack Farmers Coalition, Champlain Area Trails Society, Cornell University Cooperative Extension, The Adirondack Cuisine Trail, and adirondacks, usa.

The fairgrounds will feature a farmers’ market, over forty vendors, farming demonstrations (learn how to make sausage, cheese, and more), Ben Stechschulte’s film “Small Farm Rising,” and “Eat, Meet, & Be Merry,” a get-together hosted by Essex Farm’s Mark Kimball and the Adirondack Farmers Coalition, to sample local foods and exchange stories about our area’s new farming culture.

A “Setting Sun and Harvest Moon Hike” will be held on Friday evening and the “Ferry-to-Fairgrounds Hike” on Saturday, a hamlet-to-hamlet hike from Essex to Westport. Both hikes end at the Fairgrounds.

Participants for Friday’s Harvest Moon Hike should park at the Fairgrounds at 5 pm for a shuttle to the DaCy Meadow Farm Trail and walk 3.5 miles back to the fairgrounds, followed by Papa Duke’s BBQ, drinks, and Taylor Haskins’ Green Empire band.

Saturday’s Ferry to Fairgrounds Hike is a 13-mile hike through the Champlain Valley offering two choices:

•Park in Westport at the Fairgrounds at 9:45, take a shuttle to Essex and begin hiking about 10:30, or

•Park in Essex around 10:15, check in at the Essex Ferry Parking Area, start the hike and take a shuttle back at the end of the day.

•Arrive on the ferry from Vermont at about 10:30, check in at the Ferry Parking Area, hike, and take the shuttle back to Essex.

Admission to the Harvest Fest is free. The CATS hikes have a fee to cover our costs and help make new trails. More information can be found here along with registration for one or both of the hikes.

Photos provided.