Many activities – including a dedication ceremony for the newly restored Fountain at Lakeview Cemetery – are part of the 8th annual Sweden Farmers Museum Harvest Festival set for Saturday, September 21, at the Sweden Farmers Museum/Lake-view Cemetery, 4988 Lake Road (Route 19) in Sweden.
Sweden Town Council member Danielle Windus-Cook has been involved in organizing the festival since its inception and she says Sweden Highway Superintendent Fred Perrine volunteered his efforts to restore the fountain, which has not been functional for decades, and will now be operable. Dave Moore completed the concrete work, she says.
“It was something we needed to do and wanted to do with the Bicentennial coming up,” Windus-Cook explains. The Town of Sweden will celebrate its 200th birthday in 2014.
The festival begins at 10 a.m. and continues until 4 p.m. A long list of activities and demonstrations are planned including wagon rides, Schwenk Winery tastings, arts, crafts and antiques vendors, cemetery wagon tours, museum tours and demonstrators, a tractor show, children’s activities, local farm produce and farm animals.
This year, WBEE’s Jeremy Newman will host the event and a first-time beer tastings/wing pairings event will be held with offerings provided by the Stoneyard Restaurant.
The Lions Club will also be providing food and the Rick Howe Band will perform.
Farmer Don’s Kiddie Parade begins at 2 p.m – children are encouraged to dress for the event, donning their farmer’s best – and the much anticipated annual Tug-of-War between the Sweden Highway Department and the Brockport Village Department of Public Works returns with the winner capturing the golden pitchfork for the coming year.
At 2:30 p.m., the Apple Pie Contest will be judged. “You can enter pies that day,” Windus-Cook says. “Anybody can do it. We sell the pies afterwards.”
Pies should be delivered to the information booth by 2 p.m. A registration form for the pie contest is available at www.swedenfarmersmuseum.org.
The Staff Sgt. Nick Reid Memorial 5K Race begins at 9 a.m. at the museum and makes its way along the scenic and challenging Niagara Escarpment. Dedicated in memory of Staff Sgt. Nick Reid, proceeds from the race and festival will be used to install a gazebo in Reid’s memory.
Staff Sgt. Reid was a 2004 graduate of Brockport High School. He died December 12, 2012 after sustaining injuries in Sperwan Village, Afghanistan. He was serving his second deployment to Afghanistan as a member of the 3rd Ordnance Battalion.
Registration forms for the race are available at the Sweden Town Hall, the Sweden/Clarkson Community Center and at www.swedenfarmersmuseum.org. You can also register the day of the race.
Windus-Cook says the festival continues to grow every year. She says she is grateful for the help of many “wonderful volunteers” who help organize the event and assist with various activities the day of the festival.
“There are a lot of people who pull it all together,” she says.
The Harvest Festival Committee includes Windus-Cook, Leisa Strabel, Cindy Ingraham, Kayleen Beadle, Kory Hunsinger, and Jamie Beers.
Parking in available via the cemetery entrance on Route 19.
9/15/13
