Festival History

Friends of the Farmer Festival is the culinary creation of Tessa Edick. Tessa was born and raised in the agriculturally blessed region of upstate New York. When she later launched her private food company, “Sauces ‘n Love”, Tessa was presented with a broad spectrum of suppliers from which to cull ingredients.

She learned through the selection process that the highest quality ingredients were the freshest, and typically those were being grown by local farming families rather than being supplied by international distributors. Through Sauces ‘n Love Tessa came to know intimately the many farming families she sourced from, and she developed an acute appreciation for their hard work and the benefits of it that ultimately befalls consumers.

After realizing Sauces ‘n Love’s success, Tessa refocused her energies toward building a support network for the family farms that she had come to know and respect.

$250,000.00 spent locally in economic development
and $15,000.00 donated by the FarmOn! Foundation

FarmOn! Foundation, a 501c3 non-profit organization and public charity, was founded in 2011 to reinvigorate a respect for farming and launched the Friends of the Farmer Festival to raise awareness of local food choices and sources creating rural to urban marketplaces in support of sustaining local small-scale family farms Since its inauguration the FarmOn! Foundation has worked to generate over $250,000 in economic development for the Hudson Valley’s local community and farming families in addition to providing donations of $15,000 creating and funding youth education programs in the Hudson Valley Community since 2011.
 

2011 Friends of the Farmer Hudson Valley Food Lovers Festival launched on a gorgeous, sunny, summer day. The Festival’s inaugural events included the Hootenanny! Farm Fresh Fundraiser Dinner and Farm Fest, both held at beautiful Copake Country Club in June and July 2011, respectively. Chef Mark Straussman of Barney’s New York created the Hootenanny! farm-centric menu sourced within 5 miles of the meal using ingredients from 20 local farms and 10 local food artisans. The Fabulous Beekman Boys hosted the event and a Hudson Valley cheese course featured their own “Beekman 1802″ artisanal cheese selections. During Friends of the Farmer Festival, the FarmOn! Foundation announced its partnership with Cornell Cooperative Extension and QuestarIII launching “Camp FarmOn!” a youth education scholarship program focused on honing students’ entrepreneurial spirit toward the development of profitable agriculturally based ventures. The evening concluded with a bonfire and ice cream sundae bar presented by Ronnybrook Dairy, a tradition that has continued every year since.

2012 Friends of the Farmer Festival again presented the dual celebration of the Hootenanny! Fundraiser Dinner and Farm Fest, this year with the addition of a Whole Foods’ sponsored golf cart drive-in movie event! New York City Chef David Burke and Royal Caribbean’s F&B Frank Weber came together to present the always farm-centric Hootenanny! menu while raising funds and awareness to the cause. 3,000 adults and children enjoyed a day lakeside at the Farm Fest hosted by the Copake Country Club. Congressman Chris Gibson and the Honorable Didi Barrett addressed crowds while former NBA stars Eric Williams (Boston Celtics) and David Wesley (Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets) provided athletic inspiration in support of the family farm. International and local celebrities including Rachael Ray, John Varvatos, Gina Gershon, Thom Filicia, Bob & Cortney Novogratz, Stephanie Mauri, Jim Holl and the Fabulous Beekman Boys donated original painted picnic tables to Farm Fest’s live auction event. Whole Foods sponsored the inaugural golf cart drive-in movie, “How We Grow”. 50 family farms attended the Hootenanny! as our guests to meet and eat with patrons at the well attended event.

2013 Last year was a Friends of the Farmer Festival to remember! Hootenanny! offered local libations and a Hudson Valley cheese course happy hour provided by a dozen local farms, creameries, food artisans and producers. Dinner was prepared by Chef Zakary Pelaccio and Jori Jayne Emde of Hudson’s premier farm-to-table restaurant team at Fish & Game. 50+ local farming families provided the menu’s seasonally inspired ingredients while mixing, mingling and eating together with patrons. When one lucky diner subtly declared that the berries she had just tasted were outrageously delicious the farmer seated next to her responded, “thank you, I grew them,” giving the whole table a jolly laugh. Hootenanny! 2013 capped off the evening’s event with another Whole Foods Market sponsored golf cart drive-in movie, “Vanishing of the Bees” preceded by a screening of John Varvatos’ original film, “Willie Nelson & Sons”. The next day, 3rd annual Friends of the Farmer Hudson Valley Food Lover’s Festival brought together thousands of future farmers for a wild goose chase, pony rides, hay maze, petting zoo, face painting, seed plantings and other farm-fun events for kids, a locavore village of vendors, five-mile grill, food stands and community education programs as well as local libations and a barn to belly mixer Q&A hosted by Cornell Cooperative Extension, Stone Barns Center, Wholesome Wave and Hudson Valley Fresh.

2014 promises to be the biggest and best Friends of the Farmer Festival yet! This year we’re introducing three events, at three different venues, on three different dates all in support of ONE GREAT CAUSE – the FarmOn! Foundation. John Varvatos presents the FarmOn! Hoedown concert featuring the next generation – Lukas Nelson and Ruby Stinson at Club Helsinki Hudson July 18. Copake Country Club will continue to host the Hootenanny! Farm Fresh Fundraiser Dinner lakeside on a summer’s eve July 26 with NYC celebrity chef. 4th annual Friends of the Farmer Hudson Valley Food Lovers Festival will be held for the first time ever at a working farm location complete with local libations, a locavore village for shopping with vendors, Future of Farming tent connecting the community to seed and soil and Little Farmers activities galore with planting, animals and a LIVE concert for kids with a performance by a Disney artist! Please see this year’s event pages for more details about the 2014 festival.