Area families will have the chance to sample what the local agricultural community has to offer Tuesday at A Taste of Agriculture.
The free event will be from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the Kosciusko County Fairgrounds. The first 150 people will receive a free market bag from the dairy farm families of Indiana. More than $1,500 in door prizes will be given away to help celebrate the 11th year of Taste of Agriculture. Prizes include product or gift certificates for locally raised products such as soy candles, beef, pork, tomato, dairy, duck and T-shirts.A Taste of Agriculture also will feature a supper hosted by the agriculture community. Families will have the opportunity to taste ice cream, cheese, pork products, duck, popcorn, buffalo, beef, lamb, eggs, goat cheese, salsa and chips, rabbit and more.
The children's activity corner is back for this year's event, featuring display boards, face painting, sand pile and balloons.
The fourth annual Taste of Agriculture photo contest will be held. Full contest rules and entry forms are available at the Kosciusko County Agricultural Extension Office or at:
www.extension.purdue.edu/kosciusko
One hundred dollars in cash awards will be given out to contest winners.
The fourth annual Ag Olympics will be at 5:30 p.m. in the Show Arena. Six local high school FFA chapters will compete in a variety of events including corn toss, dressing a pig, egg toss and more. Last year's champions, Wawasee, will compete to defend their claim to the Rusty Pitch Fork Award.
The Wawasee FFA also will host a pedal pull for kids. Registration starts at 5:30 p.m. for children ages 5-10. Prizes will be awarded for the top finishers in each age division. This year, the pedal pull will be held in the Show Arena at 6 p.m. following the Ag. Olympics.
The Farm Fresh directory for Kosciusko County also will be distributed during A Taste of Agriculture. The directory is designed to help residents discover agriculture products produced in Kosciusko County.
A Taste of Agriculture also will feature more than 20 booths representing agriculture in the county. Displays will include beef, dairy, swine, ducks, chickens, crops, soil and water quality, nutrition, farm machinery, 4-H, sheep, Master Gardeners, Solid Waste, goats, rabbits, FFA, horses, lumber, llamas, alpacas, farmer's market and electric safety.
Attendees also can watch a horse being shod, sheep shearing and a sawmill demonstration.
The food producing booths will offer samples of their products for visitors to taste. Booths that do not produce a food commodity will have an activity to participate in or animals to visit. Families can participate in making a mini composting unit and planting a pizza garden. Families also can work together on a scavenger hunt to find answers to questions relating to agriculture. Children who participate will receive a small prize.
Kosciusko County Agricultural Extension Educator Kelly Easterday said the goal of A Taste of Agriculture is to provide an opportunity for area residents to learn about agriculture in the county.
"We like to have a good, fun night that's interactive for the family," said Easterday.
Easterday said her office, along with other event organizers and the more than 150 volunteers who host A Taste of Agriculture, work to ensure that the event remains completely free of charge to the community.
"We just want people to have fun and have a chance to learn about local agriculture," she said.
With the event in its 11th year, Easterday said she has started to notice some of the results of offering an up-close encounter with agriculture to the community.
"One of the fun things is when we get FFA kids who come to help," she said. "It's neat to see them coming and hearing what they remember and what they learned at the event when they were little."
Easterday also said A Taste of Agriculture provides good exposure for some agricultural activities in the county. For example, she said many of last year's 1,800 Taste of Agriculture attendees shopped at the county farmers' market after hearing about it at A Taste of Agriculture.
The event is free to the public and is sponsored by the Kosciusko County Agriculture Awareness Committee, Extension Office, Farm Bureau and Farm Credit Services.
For more information or questions, contact the Purdue Extension Kosciusko County Office at 574-372-2340 or visit the county Web site at www.extension.purdue.edu/kosciusko
