Farm-City Day Program In 11th Year
CAROLYN N. MOYER
Tioga Co. Correspondent
ROARING BRANCH (Tioga
Co.) “You can‘t separate agri
culture and Pennsylvania,” said
Pennsylvania Sen. Roger Mad
igan (R-23rd) at opening ceremo
nies for the 11th annual Farm-
City Day. “They just go togeth
er.”
Event chairperson Sherri But
ters presented Madigan with a
hand-carved antique hay fork for
his years of dedication to the
event.
“He has followed us all over
Tioga County,” said Butters. “He
has never missed a Tioga County
Farm-City Day. The idea behind
the hay fork was for his dedicat
ion to ‘pitching’ agriculture. He
has done a wonderful job for
Tioga County agriculture.”
With the Senatorial redistrict
ing, Madigan will no longer serve
Tioga County, but will continue
to serve Bradford County.
Changes have also been made
to the annual Farm-City Day cel
ebration. This year the Tioga
The Fitch family hosted this year’s event at their
259-acre dairy farm. Shown, from left, Lisa, James, and
Corbin Driscoll, Charlene Fitch, Brett Taylor, Elwyn Fitch,
Laura Taylor, and Bryan Fitch.
County committee teamed up when they pick up a dozen eggs,
with a committee from Bradford That’s why Farm-City Day is so
County, merging the event. Host special,” Madigan said,
farms will alternate between And the day was special for
Tioga and Bradford counties, people as they had the opportuni
with next year’s event taking ty to see a high-tensile fence
place in Bradford County at Y- being constructed, cows’ hooves
Run Farm, owned by the Kline being trimmed, sheep being
Family. sheared, wool being spun, and
Allowing people to realize the horses being shod. People were
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importance of agriculture was the
point of hosting the 2002 event,
which drew a crowd of about
1200 people to Four Wynds
Farm, located in the southeast
comer of Tioga County.
Owned by Elwyn and Charlene
Fitch, Four Wynds Farm is a
fourth generation Century farm.
They milk 85 Holsteins and 10
Jerseys and produce corn, oats,
alfalfa, and mixed hay on their
259 owned and 300 rented acres.
To illustrate the importance of
this event, Madigan stressed the
economic impact that agriculture
has in the state.
“Pennsylvania agriculture
brings in four billion dollars each
year, not including the money
brought in from those involved in
processing.
“Pennsylvania ranks in the top
10 in the nation in the production
of many products. But agricul
ture is more than statistics. Agri
culture is about people and farm
families like the Fitches and their
hard work and dedication. That’s
something most people don’t see
Mj HARLO
also welcome to step inside the
milking barn, see the baby calves
in the calf bam, and watch a
milking demonstration. They
could also participate in ice
cream eating contests, identify
Christmas tree varieties, and
watch a butter making demon
stration.
The “Woodmobile” also made
its first appearance in Tioga
County. Sponsored by the hard
wood industry, the trailer intro
duced visitors to the many variet
ies of Pennsylvania hardwood.
Other exhibits representing the
migrant workers, dairy promo
tion, and cooperative extension,
among others, were also popular
spots for visitors.
Wagon tours took visitors from
the farm down the road to a
neighboring farm and offered a
chance to learn the history of
Four Wynds Farm. A few lucky
wagon riders even had the oppor
tunity to watch a calf being bora
in the pasture.
For children, a maze con
structed of round bales was a hit
as was a petting zoo and pedal
tractor-pulling contest.
Winners in the children’s trac
tor pulling contest were boys, age
4, Dalton Heatley; age 5, Nick
Marple; age 6, Kurds Eby; age 7,
Ben Minnich; age 8, Keith Bur
kholder; age 9, Graham Gedman;
age 10, Mark Winder; age 11,
Chris Winch; and age 12, Tyler
Campbell. Girls, age 4, Noel Hen
ninger; age 5, Miranda Dunham;
age 6, Patricia Minnich; age 7,
Kristin Jannotti; age 8, Abby
Cappello; age 9, Christina Mus
shafen; age 10, Heidi Musshafen;
age 11, Stephanie DeWalt; and
age 12, Kelly Allen.
Kids could also stop by a trail
er sponsored by Laurel Health
and receive a free jump rope
through the Tioga County Fit
For Life Program.
“All in all, everybody was real
pleased with the day. It was a
perfect day. One fellow came all
the way from Rochester area. He
made a special trip to the area,”
said Butters.
Also in attendance were Sen.
Joseph Scamati (R-25th), Rep.
Matt Baker (R-68th), Tioga
County Commissioners Erick
Coolidge and Walt Barnes, Brad
ford County Commissioner Tina
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Farm-City Day chairperson Sherri Butters, left, pres
ented Sen. Roger Madigan an antique carved hayfork for
all of his years of “pitching agriculture.”
Pickett, and dairy royalty from
Bradford and Tioga Counties.
Department of Agriculture
Representatives from Region 2,
Dean Ely, and Region 3, Russ
Gunton, also took in the festivi
ties, as well as Farm-City com
mittee members from Lycoming
County, Pa. and Tompkins
County, N.Y.
Butters noted that the Tioga
County Farm-City Day has been
nationally recognized but she
stresses that the day would never
come together without countless
volunteers.
“You can have all the good
ideas that you want, but if you
don’t have a good team behind
you to implement those, ideas,
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“I truly believe that farm city
day is so successful due to the nu
merous volunteers that make it
happen,” Butters said.
More information about start
ing your own Farm-City Day
program can be found at
www.farmcity.org, a National
Farm-City Website that includes
tips on how to begin a program
such as this.
Butters is proud to say that
many of the pictures on the site
are from past events in Tioga
County, and she was asked to
write a prolog for the booklet.
“We have a responsibility to
educate the nonfarm public,”
said Butters.