Garden and art fair a growing party

PALMER — The Midsummer Garden and Art Faire, which will take place from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday in downtown Palmer, is turning into a giant event as it celebrates its ninth anniversary.

The July 11 fair will offer its usual assortment of gardening, music, food and art exhibitions, but event organizer Brooke Heppinstall said she expects some major changes will serious elevate the options for fun during the celebration.

One of the big differences from last year will be the addition of another stage featuring live music. While the stage behind the Palmer City Alehouse will serve as the main locale for live music. Bands such as the Palmer Art Council Summer Youth Band, the Fat Tuesday Blues Band, Emma Hill and Jerry Wessling will perform throughout the day, while Pamyua, the Ken Peltier Band and the Wildcat Trio will headline on the main stage later in the evening.

The new “Fling” stage near the Colony Inn will contrast the main stage by featuring mellower solo acts, including David Reiman, Devynn Maclure and Benji Beach, with Swing 49 closing on a livelier note.

Another big change this year will be the centralization of the fair’s popular Rhubarb Rumble, a competition that pits local eateries against each other to see who can make the best rhubarb-based dish.

This year’s challengers, Hot Hot Chocolate Shoppe, Humdinger’s Pizza, Klondike Mike’s, NonEssentials and Turkey Red, will face off under a large tent on the library lawn. By placing the cook-off in the middle of the event, Heppinstall says she hopes to intensify the competition. She admitted, however, that Humdinger’s hand-churned rhubarb ice cream and NonEssentials’ rhubarb lemonade were strong contenders from past years that could claim the grand prize Ruby award.

Heppinstall also noted the improvements the organizers were making to the event’s use of Elmwood Street. The roadway will be closed off for the Midsummer Garden and Art Faire, a liberty the planners are trying to honor by packing it full of exhibitions. A workshop on making Raku pottery, a traditional style of Japanese ceramics, will be available on Elmwood Street most of the day. Vintage tractors and other equipment from the Museum of Transportation and Industry also will be on display along the street.

An annual highlight of the event is the new exhibit at the Palmer Museum and Visitor Center, a photography piece called “Our Lives, Our Stories, Our Images,” which features photos from indigenous artists across the globe.

To complement the exhibit, fair organizers have invited the Polynesian group Pacific Bloom Dancers, Mariachi Agave Azul and the Morningstar Korean Cultural Center.

Those interested in gardening and agriculture also will have plenty to do at the ninth annual Midsummer Garden and Art Faire. Not only will local nurseries be present at the fair, but classes on everything from tapping birch trees to growing garlic will be taught by master gardeners, representatives from the extension services and nursery owners. Hanging baskets also will be available for purchase at the event, and the proceeds from those sales will support future editions of the fair.

Through yearly growth and the fair’s positive reorganization, the event’s planners expect that this will be the biggest year yet for the Midsummer Garden and Art Faire. The fair’s mission this year is to grow a new generation of gardeners, provide for those already interested in agriculture and “celebrate life through the arts”.

“We’re big on showcasing our agricultural roots,” Heppinstall said. “We’ve grown every year.”

For more information, including a full schedule of events, visit palmergardenandart.org.

Contact Kaden Weaver at 352-2270 or kaden.weaver@frontiersman.com