Nine days of agriculture education and fun at The Great Frederick Fair wrapped up on Saturday, September 23. Frederick County Office of Economic Development’s (FCOED) Homegrown Frederick team had their work cut out for them, but the 2023 Great Frederick Fair just might have been the best one yet!
Ag Awards Program
The first night of the fair (Friday, September 15) was all about celebrating the excellence within Frederick County’s agricultural community. Each year the Ag Business Council, in conjunction with The Great Frederick Fair and Ag Education PR Committee, selects Farm Family of the Year, Ag Advocate of the Year, Ag Business of the Year and Young Farmer of the Year. The 2023 award recipients are as follows:
Farm Family of the Year (pictured): Clyde C. Crum & Son, Inc. – The Crum Family
Ag Advocate: Belinda Burrier
Ag Business of the Year: The Piedmont Group
Young Farmer of the Year: Justin Tucker
The program also celebrated youth achievement in agriculture. Awards included the Joe Free Scholarship recipients presented by Nancy Keller, Frederick County Young Farmer grant recipients presented by Shelby Green, and Frederick County 4-H Character Counts Awards presented by 4-H Educators Erin Kline and Anna Mae Glenn. Agriculture is in good hands for generations to come!
Maryland Secretary of Agriculture, Kevin Atticks, Visits the Fair
The Great Frederick Fair hosts an annual Ag Day. The fair was proud to host Secretary Atticks at the Ag Luncheon where he praised Frederick County’s support of agriculture and spoke highly of the local ag community and diversity within. He even participated in the Celebrity Harness Race, but ultimately lost to FCOED Director of Agriculture, Katie Stevens. After the race, the Secretary toured the fairgrounds, meeting with businesses in the Wineries, Breweries, & Distilleries Showcase, and was a great sport while learning to milk and lead a dairy cow!
Taste of Homegrown Frederick
Six farms participated in the Taste of Homegrown Frederick spotlight in the City Streets Country Roads building. This booth provided the public with an opportunity to meet and talk to local farmers while participating businesses shared their farm stories, provided product samples or demonstrations, and educated visitors about agriculture. Participating farms throughout the week included: Moon Valley Farm, Fox Haven Farm, Scenic View Orchards, Belle Blooms Farm, Clark Family Farms Fiber and Moo Cow Creamery at Walnut Ridge Farm. While the rain put a damper on the final spotlight with Western Maryland Apiaries, we look forward to seeing their demonstration hive at The Great Frederick Fair in 2024.
Homegrown Frederick Wineries Breweries & Distilleries Showcase
Building 13 was a very popular spot during the 2023 Great Frederick Fair. Seventeen local craft beverage businesses participated in this year’s showcase. Vendors offered tastings, beverages by the glass or bottles for purchase, which visitors were able to pick up when leaving the fairgrounds. Even with two days of rainy weather putting a damper on the number of visitors, Building 13 saw the most traffic ever with 200 visitors over last year’s record! 2023 Participants:
School Tours/Ice Cream in a Bag
FCOED staff volunteered in the City Streets Country Roads agricultural education building at the fair, participating in school tours and helping visitors make ice cream in a bag Friday afternoon. Over the course of 4 days (Monday-Thursday), The Great Frederick Fair hosts 5,000 FCPS students on school tours to visit Frederick County’s largest agricultural classroom. More than 90 volunteers help to make this program a success year after year.
While The 2023 Great Frederick Fair has come and gone, 2024 will be here before we know it. Be sure to visit next year and check out even more ag education packed into nine days! To view more photos of this year’s Fair, check out the Homegrown Frederick Facebook and Instagram pages.