COVID measures will give new look to Open Farm Days events

By Sulz, Dave on August 7, 2020.

Dave Sulz

lethbridge herald

dsulz@lethbridgeherald.com

Open Farm Day will be celebrated as usual this year, though the occasion will be a little different than in the past. This year’s “day on the farm” event will feature COVID-19 guidelines to help ensure a safe day for all involved.

The Lethbridge edition of the annual free event will again be hosted by Farming Smarter at the facility east of Lethridge at 211034 Highway 512 (Jail Road). It will take place Aug. 15 from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., with a limit of 100 people on site at a time. To help control the number of visitors, organizers are asking visitors to RSVP for 10:30 a.m., 11:30 a.m. or 12:30 p.m. by going to the Farming Smarter website, http://www.farmingsmarter.com.

Wagon rides will be offered as usual, and to help facilitate social-distancing measures, there will be two wagons in operation. Wagon ride participants must wear a face covering, and there will be bandanas available for those who don’t have their own face coverings.

There will be the usual wide assortment of information booths to educate visitors about the agriculture industry and other topics, and organizers have also brainstormed some socially-distanced games for kids on site. The information booth lineup will include Cypress County author Conny Kappler, whose book “Dirt to Dinner” teaches kids about agriculture. Visitors will also be able to learn about such subjects as biobed and spray volumes, digital weed ID, urban hen-keeping, soil health, soil conservation, goats and pigs, the Oldman River Watershed, and the Ducks Unlimited Winter Wheat Initiative, to name a few.

People in the agriculture industry are invited to assist Farming Smarter in educating the public during the Open Farm Day event. Organizers could still use a few more volunteers to help at the popular Ask a Farmer information booth. Visit the Farming Smarter website for details.

The Farming Smarter site is one of more than 80 host locations that will be holding events as part of Open Farm Days, taking place Aug. 15-16 across the province. Other participating locations in the Lethbridge area are Broxburn Vegetables east of Lethbridge, Blue Rein Ranch near Fort Macleod and Trails End Beef near Nanton, all on Aug. 15. There will also be a Fort Whoop-Up Country event Aug. 15 and 16, hosted by the Fort Whoop-Up Interpretive Society at 202002 Township Road 74 in Lethbridge County.

For more details, visit albertafarmdays.ca.

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