Sonoma County is celebrating harvest with a festival filled with food, wine and a whole lot of fun. With over 150 wineries and food demonstrations daily it's no wonder that the 2011 Sonoma County Harvest Fair is the talk of the town. In this video, Patch's Monique Soltani talks with Healdsburg's , president of the Harvest Fair Board, who shows us how this fair truly is a family affair.
Schedule of Events:
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 110:00 a.m. Buildings and Grounds Open
Grace Pavilion
Noon-5:00 Wine Tasting
$12 for a souvenir glass and four taste tickets; additional taste tickets are four for $8.
More than 250 gold medal winners served by our local wineries poured by the ounce (ticket sales end at 4:45 p.m.) Meet Ziggy the Wine Gal today and get all your wine questions answered!
Garrett Hall
Sonoma County Marketplace
10:00 -7:00 Retail Wine Sales
Your chance to purchase the award-winning wines at great prices. 10% off individual bottle purchase, 15% off 6-11 bottle purchase, 20% off case purchases. Oliver’s Market, G & G Market and Big John’s will be demonstrating samples of local food products. Shipping is available
1:30 and 3:00 Wine Tasting Seminars
Free with fair admission. Everything you wanted to know about wine tasting, presented by local experts.
Finley Hall
10:00 –7:00 Art Show and Sale
Free with fair admission. Art celebrating the beauty of Sonoma County will be judged, displayed and offered for sale. Also view table settings, floriculture and potted plants.
E.C. Kraft Building
10:00–7:00 Local Arts and Crafts
Everything from wine art to country crafts and campsites, from holiday handicrafts to decorated lunch boxes. Come in and see all the agricultural and horticulture exhibits including dried fruits and nuts, the tallest and heaviest vegetables, adorned fruits and vegetables and painted pumpkins.
Livestock Area Schedule
10:30, 11:30 and 12:30 Cow Milking Demonstrations (Milk Barn)
Free Milk Samples
8:00 ARBA Sanctioned Rabbit Show (Wilford Ring)
9:00 Llama Show (Lyttle Cow Palace)
1:30 Cow Milking Contest (Milk Barn)
Live Music
11:00 -7:00 Tom Leps & the Harvest Stompers Dixieland Band (strolling)
12:00, 1:00, 2:00 Neil Buckley Octet jazz (Park Stage)
2:00-5:00 Oyé World Drummers
3:15 Santa Rosa Junior College Evening Jazz Big Band (Park Stage)
4:45, 5:45 and 6:45 Eric Muhler Jazz (Park Stage)
Stomping Grounds
11:00 –6:00 Barnyard Scramble
Kids Activities (all free!)
1:00 Scarecrow Building Contest
We provide everything you need to build a scarecrow.
4:30 Scarecrow Un-Building Contest
It’s a race to take apart the scarecrows!
Around the Grounds
10:00– 7:00 Food and Wine Country Shopping with Craft Vendors
11:00–5:30 Haunted Room (under the Racing Grandstand)
Showcase Café
Chef Demonstrations
Noon Richard Whipple, Brasserie Restaurant, Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel (Santa Rosa)
1:00 Tom Schmidt, John Ash Restaurant (Santa Rosa)
2:00 Colin Curtis, Hoffman House Restaurant (Geyserville)
3:00 John Lyle, Chosen Spot Pop Up Dinners; Fresh by Lisa Hemenway (Santa Rosa)
4:00 Michael Kennedy, diVine Pizza (Healdsburg)
Also on display are entries in our local ‘trim the tree’ competition!
Hall of Flowers
10:00 -7:00 Wine Country Shopping
Start your Christmas shopping early, visit more than 150 arts and crafts booths both in the Hall of Flowers. Vendors will be selling many Wine Country products. Fair t-shirts and posters will also be available.
Grape Stomp Stage
Noon, 1:00, 3:00, 4:00 and 5:00 Qualifying Grape Stomps
All Ages ($30 team entry fee)
2:00 Great American Pumpkin Toss (Behind the Grape Stomp Stage)
Pumpkin tossing for distance and trophies!
Kids Area
12:30, 2:30 and 5:00 The Puppets & Players Little Theatre
12:30, 3:30 Easy Bake Bake-Off
We provide the Easy Bake Oven and everything you and your team needs to bake a cake. Not a contest—just for fun! Ages 5 & up
3:00 Mummy Wrap!
Your group wraps one of your own up as a mummy!
4:00 Pumpkin Carving By Committee
You bring a team of amateur carvers, and we provide everything you need to carve a pumpkin. Not a contest—just for fun!
BackDoor Stage
1:30, 3:30 and 5:30 Karen Quest, Cowgirl Tricks!
Garden Courtyard
1:00-5:00 Chocolate and Port Pairings
Enjoy this special pairing; $4 per paired taste
The Village
1:00-5:00 Harvest Microbrew Beer Tasting
Enjoy your favorite brews poured by Sonoma County breweries while listening to live music. $15 for a souvenier pilsner glass and four taste tickets. Additional tastes $3 each.
NEW! Here come the Food Trucks!
Local favorites include Karma Mobile Indian serving up modern Indian cuisine, Charlie Bruno's Chuck Wagon with their mobile comfort food and Ultra Crepes making sweet and savory crepes. Don't miss Street-eatz with their globally inspired dishes and also The Matchbox Diner dishing up southern-style barbecue and sides.
Garden Courtyard and Apple Building
10:00 – 7:00
Smell the aroma of hundreds of apples on display, then step into the courtyard to view the Men’s Garden Club’s giant pumpkins and sunflowers, Sonoma County Beekeepers display, business and family farm displays, scarecrows and more!
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2
The Village (Linwood Ave.)
7:45 a.m. YMCA Harvest Fun Run
The course is a scenic route through Santa Rosa neighborhoods starting and finishing at the fairgrounds. There are 11 age divisions, including one for wheelchair-bound competitors. Post-race festivities are in the Redwood Theater where runners can enjoy water, fruit and food sampling as well as a visit to the Healthy Living Zone. Registration information is available on the Sonoma County YMCA website www.scfymca.org.
10:00 a.m. Buildings and Grounds Open
Grace Pavilion
Noon-5:00 Wine Tasting
More than 250 gold medal winners served by our local wineries poured by the ounce. (Ticket sales end at 4:45 p.m.)
Garrett Hall
Sonoma County Marketplace
10:00 -7:00 Retail Wine Sales
Your chance to purchase the award-winning wines at great prices. 10% off individual bottle purchase, 15% off 6-11 bottle purchase, 20% off case purchases. Oliver’s Market, G & G Market and Big John’s will be demonstrating samples local food products. Shipping is available.
1:30 and 3:00 Wine Tasting Seminars
Free with fair admission. Everything you wanted to know about wine tasting presented by local experts.
Finley Hall
10:00 –7:00 Art Show and Sale
Free with fair admission. Art celebrating the beauty of Sonoma County will be judged, displayed and offered for sale. Also on display are table settings, floriculture and potted plants.
The original art for the 2011 poster will also be on display and available for purchase through silent auction, which ends today at 5:00 p.m.
E.C. Kraft Building
10:00 –7:00 Local Arts and Crafts
Free with fair admission. Art celebrating the beauty of Sonoma County will be judged, displayed and offered for sale. The original art for the 2011 poster will also be on display and available for purchase through silent auction, which ends Sunday at 5:00 p.m. Also view table settings, floriculture and potted plants.
Hall of Flowers
10:00 – 7:00 Wine Country Shopping
Start your Christmas shopping early, visit more than 150 arts and crafts booths both in the Hall of Flowers. Vendors will be selling many Wine Country products. Fair t-shirts and posters will also be available.
Livestock Area Schedule
10:30, 11:30 and 12:30 Cow Milking Demonstrations (Milk Barn)
Free Milk Samples
9:00 Llama Show (Lyttle Cow Palace)
1:00 Sheep Dog Trial (Lyttle Cow Palace)
Stomping Grounds
11:00 -6:00 Barnyard Scramble
Kids Activities (all free!)
1:00 Scarecrow Building Contest
We provide everything you need to build a scarecrow.
4:00 Scarecrow Un-Building Contest
It’s a race to take apart the scarecrows!
4:00 Grape Expectoration (Spitting) Contest
Distance grape spitting—all ages welcome!
Around the Grounds
10:00– 7:00 Food and Wine Country Shopping with Craft Vendors
11:00–5:30 Haunted Room (under the Racing Grandstand)
Live Music
11:00 -6:30 Tom Leps & the Harvest Stompers Dixieland Band (strolling)
12:00, 1:15 and 2:30 Jon Poponoe Trio jazz (Park Stage)
2:00-5:00 Oyé World Drummers (strolling)
3:45, 4:45 and 5:45 Matt Eakle Band jazz (Park Stage)
Kids Area
Noon-4:30 LEGO Building Contest Sponsored by The ToyWorks
We provide the LEGOs, you create a masterpiece. All ages welcome.
12:30, 2:30 and 4:30 The Puppets & Players Little Theatre
1:00 Pumpkin Carving By Committee
You bring a team of carvers, and we provide everything you need to carve a pumpkin.
3:30 Mummy Wrap!
Your group wraps one of your own up as a mummy!
Grape Stomp Stage
Noon, 1:00 and 3:00 Qualifying Grape Stomps
All Ages ($30 team entry fee)
2:00 Qualifying Kids’ Grape Stomp Sponsored by The ToyWorks
Open to ages 13 and under; $30 team entry fee.
5:00 World Championship Grape Stomp Finals
Showcase Café
Chef Demonstrations
Noon Peter Brown, Jimtown Store (Healdsburg)
1:00 Dustin Valette, Dry Creek Kitchen (Healdsburg)
2:00 Josh Silvers, Petite Syrah, Jackson’s Bar & Oven (Santa Rosa)
3:00 John Franchetti, Rosso Pizzeria (Santa Rosa)
NEW! 4:00 Hispanic/Latino Cook-Off
Come watch both professional and amateur chefs submit their best salsas. Judges include Supervisor Efren Carillo, La Tortilla Factory’s Clarke Katz and retired Cooperative Extension Director Linda Garcia. Entries in our local “trim the tree” competition will also be on display.
Garden Courtyard
1:00-5:00 Chocolate and Port Pairings
Enjoy this special pairing; $4 per paired taste
The Village
1:00 Giant Pumpkin Weigh-In
Come and watch these giants get weighed and judged for a top prize of $1,000.
BackDoor Stage
1:30, 3:30, 6:00 The Puppets & Players Little Theatre
NEW! Here come the Food Trucks!
Time?
Local favorites include Karma Mobile Indian serving up modern Indian cuisine, Charlie Bruno's Chuck Wagon with their mobile comfort food and Ultra Crepes making sweet and savory crepes. Don't miss Street-eatz with their globally inspired dishes and also The Matchbox Diner dishing up southern-style barbecue and sides.
Garden Courtyard and Apple Building
10:00 – 6:00 APPLE SALE AT 6:00
Smell the aroma of hundreds of apples on display, then step into the courtyard to view the giant pumpkins and sunflowers, bee display, business and family farm displays, scarecrows and more!
7:00 p.m. Buildings and Grounds Close
Monique Soltani moniquesoltani@gmail.com Show details
