Sustainable ag is focus of Sept. 10 Lida area festival; photo exhibit to debut

The Lake Agassiz Chapter of the Sustainable Farming Association invites the community to the second annual Deep Roots Festival at Lida Farm near Pelican Rapids on September 10, from 1 p.m. to 8 p.m. 

The festival is an opportunity to celebrate the harvest and local foods and farms and is open to everyone. 

This family-friendly event will feature a farm tour of multiple local operations, educational workshops, kids’ activities, live music, and foods and goods from local farms. 

A feature of this year’s festival is the premier of a photo exhibition by local artist, Jon Solinger. Titled “Deep Roots: Sustaining a Living Community,” Jon’s work depicts the sustainable farmers of our region who are working each day to grow food while caring for the land. 

The host of this year’s event, Ryan Pesch of Lida Farm, says, “The whole idea of the Deep Roots Festival is to invite the public to celebrate the harvest season with the local farm community. It’s for everybody. You don’t have to be super into organic food to enjoy the festival…just bring your family out to the farm for the evening to take in some farm-to-table tacos and music.” 

The mission of the main sponsor, the Sustainable Farming Association, is to support sustainable agriculture in Minnesota. 

 Kids 12 and younger are free. For information on tickets and a complete schedule of events, go to http://www.deep-roots-festival.com. 

All proceeds go to sustainable agriculture promotion and education in the region. For more information, contact the Lake Agassiz Chapter at lakeagassiz@sfa-mn.org.

The Deep Roots Festival is co-sponsored by West Central Initiative, Manna Food Co-op, Lida Farm, North Circle Seeds, and SARE.