Bringing the farm to the people, the first-ever Farm City Festival will be held on Sept. 30 at The Showroom in Danville. 

There’s a lot of farm to bring — there are 101,549 acres of farmland in Boyle County, according to the 2012 census of agriculture from the United States Department of Agriculture. That equals about 158.67 square miles. Boyle County covers 180.17 square miles according to 2010 census data.

“We wanted to find a way to help bridge that gap between people who have never been on a farm and the people in this county who farm,” said Terry Gilbert, an employee of Farm Bureau, which is sponsoring the event. “We wanted to make it fun and educational.” It is in part organized by the Farm Bureau Women’s Committee, of which Gilbert is co-chairwoman. 

The event is free and open to the public, but there will be some items for sale. There will be a variety of activities for individuals and families, including a farm animal petting zoo of local animals, with people and signs explaining how that animal is used on a farm. The Boyle County Farmers Market will set up, moving from their normal location at Danville High School.

Gilbert said the Kentucky Department of Agriculture is bringing the mobile ag lab, which kids will be able to go through. Typically, she said, lessons are conducted in the lab, such as one on the uses of soy, a cash crop in Kentucky.

“It’s used for a lot more than people realize, I think,” she said.

The Boyle County Future Farmers of America club and the Boyle County 4H will be set up with activities for kids, and Gilbert said they have invited the Danville Fire Department with their Fire Safety House, the Kentucky State Police and the Boyle County Sheriff’s Office and AirEvac with a helicopter, weather permitting. 

Gilbert said she is working on getting some small pedal tractors for children to ride.

The Kentucky Beef Council and the Boyle County Homemakers will be present. Alethea Price, Boyle County Extension Agent for Family and Consumer Sciences, will do a cooking demonstration. The Boyle County Band Boosters will have a funnel cake booth and there will likely be other food booths, she said.

“There are still others in the works,” Gilbert said. She is looking for individuals with tractors willing to set up, anyone interested can call (859) 239-0793.

“It’s important that people realize where their food comes from; the fiber that goes into your clothes and fuel that we use, the materials we build our homes from — all of that starts out on a farm somewhere,” she said. “We have such an abundance in the grocery stores, it’s easy to forget someone out there raised it or grew it to sell to the grocery store to be sold to you as a consumer.”

She said they also want to help people understand some of the whys behind what farmers do, “what they see that may not make sense.”

“Why do we cut down the grass at a certain time of the year or move cattle from one field to the other different times? Hopefully, we can start a conversation with people with that,” Gilbert said.

A special logo has been designed by Jennifer Guthrie which brings in the farm, through vegetables, animals and farmland with some historic points of Danville, such as Old Centre, Constitution Square and the courthouse.

The Farm City Festival event can be found on Facebook. 

Gilbert said it’s too early to know if it will become a yearly thing, but if so, they want to make it “bigger and better.”

IF YOU GO

The Farm City Festival will be 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Sept. 30 at The Showroom in Danville.

To show a tractor or other farm-related item, call (859) 239-0793.