The 2nd Annual Hillsdale/Copake Fall Harvest Festival

Dear Editor: The 2nd Annual Hillsdale/Copake Fall Harvest Festival was a huge success! Despite gloomy weather predictions, the rain held off long enough for everyone to enjoy the day and all it had to offer: farmers’ wares; a bake sale; a silent auction; Halloween Face Painting by Tracy Hanselman; 4H sheep petting; Main Farm calf petting; music by local musicians (The BH Brothers, Civilian, The Varriales, The Hillsdale Hillbillies, and Paul Slusar & Chris Dellea); food, featuring a Pig Roast by the Hillsdale Fire Co.; drinks by the Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts; and hay wagon rides. Many activities were ongoing throughout the day, including turkey calling demonstrations, kids’ games, pumpkin decorating, sack races, duck races in the Roe Jan Kill, a “biggest pumpkin” contest, an apple pie contest, and more. This special event has a unique vision. Unlike each town’s individual-annual community day, it is a chance for our towns to join together at fall harvest time in the new Roeliff Jansen park to celebrate our local agriculture, and our local farmers’ wares, which are a featured aspect of the festival. We all agree that we live in a beautiful little piece of the world, and the Festival encourages us to come out and connect with nature, our community members, and be grateful for the precious land we share. As this year’s event Chair, I personally want to thank all members of the community for your hard work, support, and generosity. Specifically, I thank our enthusiastic event participants, including Rose Rita Peterson Scarecrow Display, St Bridget Universal Prayer Garden, Cornell Cooperative Extention, Farmscape Ecology program at Hawthorne Valley, Friends of Taconic State Park, Old Rte. 22 Dog run group, Roeliff Jansen Historical Society, Trout Unlimited, and Hawk Dance Farm. Many thanks also to our donors for donations including silent auction items, donuts from Stewarts, syrup from Camphill Village, apples from Philip’s Orchard, Love Apple Farm, and Threshold Farms, gourds from Samascott Orchard, potatoes from Staron Farm and Honey Dog Farm, pumpkins from White Oak Farm, and various vegetables from the farmers’ market. I would like to thank our generous sponsors, including the Town of Hillsdale, Columbia County Tourism, Salisbury Bank & Trust Co, Copake Park & Recreation, Hillsdale Highway Dept., Hillsdale IGA, North Mountain Nursery & Farmstand, Roeliff Jansen Community Library, and Taconic Valley Lawn & Garden. Finally, I would like to extend special thanks to all the volunteers, whether behind the scenes or working that day, including the Roeliff Jansen Park Steering committee, the Harvest Festival committee, and all who helped make this event so wonderful by their participation and attendance. The day couldn’t have happened without you all! Next year’s Festival is planned for Saturday, October 2, 2010, and will be held rain or shine, as there is plenty of barn and tent coverage. The Roeliff Jansen Park Steering committee will organize the event in 2010 and beyond: the goal is that the “Roe Jan Harvest Festival” will truly engage all the Roe Jan towns, in addition to Copake and Hillsdale, and that community members from across the region will participate in the festivities and unite through our area’s bountiful harvest. See you next year! Most sincerely, Christina Dellea Hillsdale 2008/2009 Harvest Festival Chair