Harvest fest draws large crowd, offers less crops

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Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

Looking for squash, Bill Kieffer of Bethel picks through a trailer of vegetables from John Carter's Middle Intervale Farm that were offered at Saturday's 12th annual Bethel Harvest Fest on the Town Common.

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Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

Basset hounds Andy, left, and Stump, check out crowds at Saturday's 12th annual Bethel Harvest Festival on the Town Common. They attended the festival with owners Rick Reeves and his wife Melissa Legg of Alpharetta, Ga., and North Waterford.

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Terry Karkos/Sun Journal

An animated demonstration of fly-tying by Selene Dumaine, right, of Readfield, attracted a small crowd of Bethel youngsters on Saturday at the Upper Androscoggin Anglers Alliance booth at the three-day Bethel Harvest Festival on Saturday in Bethel. The children, from left, are Troy Anderson, 3, and his brother, Ryan, 8; Timothy Frongillo and Madeline Hallett, both 7; and Jessica Aug, 5.

BETHEL — Brisk winds that toppled a tree and a utility pole onto Main Street in Kingfield on Saturday, snarling traffic all day, also created a challenge for vendors at the 12th annual Bethel Harvest Festival.

"It was pretty chilly and the wind blew a tent over, and then blew tents around this morning," said Katherine Noiles, a soap maker and owner of Buffy's Boutique in Westbrook.

But once tents were better anchored and the high winds subsided somewhat, vendors got down to business and the festival attracted a few thousand people, Robin Zinchuk said.

"The weather was great, aside from the wind," said Zinchuk, executive director of the Bethel Area Chamber of Commerce. "It was a little challenging setting up."

A smattering of clouds dotted the blue sky, but cooling winds kept many visitors and vendors in jackets or other warm clothing.

"But we had a great crowd and wonderful support from our sponsors," Zinchuk said. "To have a farmer become the presenting sponsor was perfect."

She was referring to large-scale Maine potato farmer David McCrumb, whose spuds are shipped to potato chip plants such as Frito Lay in Connecticut, Cape Cod in Hyannis, Mass.; and Wachusett in Pittsburgh, Pa.

McCrumb began farming in 1973 with his brother and now grows 400 acres of potatoes in Bethel and Rumford Point for his Sunday River Farms business and 3,000 acres in Mars Hill for his County Super Spuds business.

Saturday was the fifth-generation farmer's first time attending the festival.

"I'm really amazed by it," McCrumb said. "There are a lot of people and a lot of vendors."

McCrumb offered free potato chips at his booth, which was aimed at educating people about his businesses.

The Harvest Festival offered crops from one farmer, John Carter of Middle Intervale Farm in Bethel, who said that due to the poor growing season he had less variety than usual. He brought pumpkins, squash, peppers, corn and cornstalks, and apples.

Carter and McCrumb said harvests were down this year because of excessive rain that prevented bees from flying to pollinate crops and greatly reduced needed heat and sunlight.

"The crop is lousy," Carter said. "I'm down over 50 percent and it's not good elsewhere."

He said a girl bought five pumpkins from him because there was no commercial pie filling to be found until November. "So, maybe they'll buy something from Maine farmers now."

Carter said he had done better than average thanks to the recession, which provided him with a labor force.

"My sweet corn is going to be skimpier because I was two weeks behind, but I've supplied people who normally grow their own corn," Carter said. He expects to start harvesting corn next week.

McCrumb said his crop was "pretty good" at Bethel but not at Rumford Point. "There was one weekend where they got 5 inches more rain than we did here."

Bill Kieffer of Bethel, who bought some squash from Carter, said he was enjoying the festival, which offered a variety of activities, arts and crafts, foods to sample and wares to peruse.

"I think it's super," Kieffer said. "It's a great way to bring people out and celebrate the fall and the local produce businesses, which are important for the community and state."

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

BETHEL — Winners of the Bethel Harvest Festival's 10th annual "Chowdah" Cook-Off contest on Saturday were The Sudbury Inn, which won first place in the Judges' Choice division. Bethel's Best Pizza Grill and Dairy Bar and the Good Food Store tied for Judges' Choice honorable mention.

The Phoenix House and Well of Newry won the People's Choice division.

Winners of the Apple Pie Contest in the amateur division were Betty Gilbert for nontraditional and Darlene Baker for traditional; in the professional division, Barry Hallett of the Funky Red Barn.