STANWOOD — The sixth annual Port Susan Harvest Jubilee is 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday in Stanwood, Camano Island, Silvana and Warm Beach.
The free event aims to get people out to tour some of the farms in the Stanwood area and see what they have to offer. Some farmers also plan to be open to the public on Sunday.
The festival hub is located at Viking Village, the home of the Port Susan Farmers Market, near the intersection of 88th Avenue and Highway 532 in downtown Stanwood. The market is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday. Tour maps can be picked up there or are available online at www.harvestjubilee.org.
At the market and at various farm stands throughout the region, people can expect to buy fall fruits and vegetables, chicken and duck eggs, local meats, candles and other gifts, bakery goods, flowers, plants, seeds and bees. The farms include several alpaca farms where yarn may be available for sale.
Some farms will have hay rides, exhibits, demonstrations and presentations to inspire future farmers and food entrepreneurs, as well as educate all who attend, organizers said.
The Harvest Jubilee takes its name from Stanwood’s 1930s-era fall festival and is offered with the hope of preserving farms and farmland for future generations.
At the end of the day, people are invited to attend a fundraiser for the South Camano Grange.
The South End String Band plans a concert there as the grand finale of Harvest Jubilee, said organizer, band member and Camano Island artist Jack Archibald in a press release.
“We did this back in 2004 to save the grange when they asked us for help, and so we threw a shindig, served a dinner and on a dark and stormy February night, had 700 people roll in to help out the place,” Archibald said. “The grange asked us for help again, so we thought we’d see if lightning might strike twice.”
The band has played for many fundraisers over the years, but the grange is special, Archibald said.
“The South Grange has been sort of dear to our hearts. The grange embodies the notion of volunteerism that we still have up here,” he said.
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