The Harvest Festival sub committee of the North Thompson Valley Garden Club held a planning meeting recently, where they discussed the upcoming festival, which will take place on Sept. 11, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m at the Barriere Community Garden.
First on the agenda was the topic of food for the concession. After some discussion on the pros and cons of each suggestion, it was decided to serve chili and buns, tomato soup, cookies and muffins, coffee, tea and juice. These will be made by club members, who will use, as much as possible, items from their gardens.
Members will also be asked to make pies again to be sold and/or auctioned off at the festival. For the coffee, one of the members has a generator that can be use if necessary.
Tracey Corrianni has offered to be MC again this year, and she will take on the booking of the live entertainment – two acts for the morning and two for the afternoon.
As the tomato tasting contest was a hit last year, it will be done again this year. A “biggest zucchini” contest was also suggested, and may be done if a volunteer comes forward to run it.
Signs will be made up for the Club’s vegetable and flower tables to clarify the pricing on the items being sold. Last year there was some confusion over the pricing and some people managed to get huge deals – not necessarily a bad thing, but the Festival is one of the two main fund raisers for the club (the other is the Plant Sale in May).
One major decision that was made was to limit the number of vendor spots to 15. It was too crammed last year and set up was a headache. There will be more people on to direct vendor traffic first thing Sunday to keep the vehicles off the paved paths in the park – these are NOT to be driven on except in emergencies! Customers during the day can park along Barriere Town Road or in the parking areas around the ball parks.
Vendors will pay $10 per spot, and will be asked to donate one small item from their table (valued up to $5) for the door prize basket. If they do not have any items that small, they may substitute with a store-bought item or a gift certificate – however, an item from their table would be preferred.
Anyone wishing to book a table is asked to contact Gerry Brackhaus at 250-672-2017.