|
|
|
|
FARMINGTON – Hundreds of young students from 11 area elementary schools and 29 home schools spent this morning learning a lot about natural resources and local farm production at the 20th annual Agricultural Day held at the Farmington Fair.
Throughout the morning, students in grades kindergarten through fourth grade learned what it was like to milk a cow, how bees make honey, got a taste of freshly-made apple cider and more at the 18 hands-on stations of activities set up especially for the students. The event, always held on the first Monday of the Fair, is sponsored by the Franklin County Soil & Water Conservation District.
In addition, students and their chaperones visited the fair’s exhibits, museums, barns and sap house for a sweet demonstration. Thirty volunteers ran the stations and helped with other duties to keep the day running smoothly, said Rosetta Thompson, the district’s executive director.
“This year the numbers (of students attending) are down some due to school budget crunches,” Thompson said, “Some schools said this would have been the only thing they could have gone to all year.” Schools that usually attend but couldn’t this year were Fayette Elementary School in Kennebec County, MSAD 58’s Kingfield and Stratton schools, and five schools in Somerset County, some of which had closed since last year.
“Budget constraints had a big effect,” Thompson noted.
She estimated 600 students and another 150 to 200 chaperones attended the event this year from Carrabec Elementary in Somerset County; five Mt. Blue RSU 9 schools and Rangeley, Phillips, Strong schools, all in Franklin County. Coming for the first time were Livermore Elementary School in Androscoggin and Dirigo Elementary School in Oxford County.
Thompson said the event “is a due to the graciousness of the Franklin County Agricultural Society that we are able to be here.”
Ag Day was started 20 years ago by Rhonda Irish, now Wilton’s town manager, when she was the educational coordinator for the conservation district. Her husband, Jeff Irish, has brought his honeycomb bee demonstration every year of those 20 years.
|
|
|
|
