Matanuska Experiment Farm celebrates agriculture
August 12, 2010
Nancy Tarnai
907-474-5042
8/12/10
The public is invited to help the University of Alaska Fairbanks celebrate agriculture at a free event Aug. 17 at the Matanuska Experiment Farm.
In the past, the farm hosted an agriculture day event annually, but it has been six years since the last one, said farm manager Judson Scott. “It’s the resurrection of ag day. We are celebrating agriculture in Alaska and the 75th anniversary of the Matanuska Colony.”
The day is designed to be both educational and fun for friends and neighbors in the Matanuska Valley and beyond. The event will include hay wagon rides, pony rides, animal displays, milking demonstrations, a small farmers’ market and a GPS scavenger hunt. The Air Force band Alaskan Express will perform. Participants will have a chance to win prizes in games like animal calling, a cabbage toss, a cake walk, potato sack races, tug of war, three-legged races and vegetable bobbing.
Informational booths will feature displays on the Matanuska Colony, Natural Resources Conservation Service, potato varieties, steam tractor engine and water quality. Vendors will be selling or displaying their wares, from kettle corn to farm equipment. A demonstration of precision agriculture and tours of the research labs are also on the agenda.
The celebration will be held at the Matanuska Experiment Farm, 1509 South Trunk Road, Palmer, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. A farm fun run (3.7K or 6K) will conclude the day’s activities at 6:30 p.m.
The UAF School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences, the UAF Cooperative Extension Service and the Alaska Division of Agriculture are sponsoring the event.
ADDITIONAL CONTACTS: Judson Scott, 907-746-9481, jscott54@alaska.edu. Phyllis Craig, 907-746-9495, plcraig@alaska.edu.
NT/8-12-10/022-11