Photo courtesy of Farm to Fork Greene County

 

Thistlethwaite Vineyard hosted the “Farm to Fork” event last Friday, Sept. 14, for the fourth year in a row after its debut in 2016. This one-of-a-kind experience is hosted annually, in order to highlight local and regional farms. Their goal is to celebrate the farm-to-table movement by allowing their guests to enjoy a beautiful night on their property as they introduce them to fresh food and a variety of entertainment.

The evening provided its guests with homemade products, such as cheese and creative sandwiches, live entertainment, which included performances from Dan Baker, Tim Reeds and Joe Materkowski amongst artisans, hayrides and more. There were approximately 300 people in attendance, said Joanne Marshall, communications/tourism director of the Greene County Tourism Office.

Although this event has taken place in previous years, the planning never seems to cease, she said. The staff begins to plan for the upcoming year the day the event takes place. They find aspects they would like to adjust and identify new ways of bettering the event based on how it ran that day. 

“Farm to Fork is always a fun way to celebrate the fall season, and each year the event only improves,” Marshall said. “The event started at 3 p.m. and finished at 9 p.m. We still had people drifting in and out of the parking lot at 9 p.m. It was busy,” said Rich Thistlethwaite, janitor and co-owner of Thistlethwaite Vineyards. 

On top of planning in advance, it takes a lot of effort and is quite time-consuming to set up and tear down a function of this size. The event was so large, staff were cleaning through Monday evening. However, working together is what got the job done. Thistlethwaite was extremely grateful to all of those who helped and attended. 

“I just want to thank all the people that came out. It was a festive day and evening,” He said. “[It was] a great, fun event.”