NYFB'S 2016 Empire Farm Days Experience

The 2016 Empire Farm Days (EFD) set up crew was both awesome and experienced.  Thanks go out to all who helped plan, pack, set up and the execution of the entire event.  Plenty of muscle and creativity was supplied as we picked up all the juice, helium and many supplies and exhibits.  

Our own State Promotion and Education members who were there to help included Tara Lott, who was there for hands-on help for the entire event in addition to providing the straw and flowers that accessorized the tent plus our pipeline for ice, Debbie Teeter, who provided the artistic talents for our face-painting area, Judi Whittaker, who has been our main volunteer for years, and Linda Fix, for her dedicated efforts in all areas.

We had the assistance of several NYFB board members including:  Dick Kimball, Paul Fouts, Ashur Terwilliger and Pat McCormick, who worked diligently answering questions and providing support. 

Our tent was packed with visitors.  The talents of staff were put to work as we signed up new members and spent time with many of the visitors to our exhibit.  Members assisting staff were Karen Lohr, Carol Doolittle and Rich Jerome as well as Amanda Krenning-Muoio’ s daughter.  The NYFB/Nationwide balloons dotted the landscape every day, seconded by all of the NYFB labeled popcorn boxes carried by so many.  The advertising must have worked as the tent was absolutely filled to capacity on many occasions.

During this three-day event we offered visitors more than 125 gallons of juice free-of-charge including apple cider provided by the NY Apple Association, grape juice provided by Welch’s, apple-lemon “Summer Blend” provided by Red Jacket Orchards, and additional juice and water courtesy of NYFB.     We also popped 105 pounds of popcorn, filling more than 2200 boxes for those who stopped by. 

Our packing crew included worked quickly to load our trailer for the return trip to Albany and a separate load to head for the New York State Fair Exhibit.  The team of NYFB really worked and worked well.  In addition to those listed above our thanks go out to all the NYFB staff that helped in so many ways.