A severe hail storm in August 2014 may have forced the cancellation of Edgar Farms’ spring Asparagus Festivals, but this year the veggie returns as the life of the party.
The 2018 Asparagus Festival will be held three Sundays in a row — May 27, June 3 and 10 – from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the farm located about 10 km east of Innisfail.
Elna Edgar said new asparagus needs a few years of careful nurturing and a 2,200-acre field that was planted in 2014 is now festival ready. During the storm plants in that field were small enough that hail damage was limited. But mature plants were hit hard.
“We had a really bad hail storm — dented the roofs, smashed the windows in the vehicles — and it broke down all the fern on our mature plants,” Edgar said.
The new field has been babied along and production should be good this spring, she said.
“It looked fantastic last year. It had a good, long summer. A good, long fall without any frost and it’s looking amazing this spring. We should have lots of asparagus for people.”
She said warm weather in the coming days will get asparagus pretty excited about growing.
It’s the eighth Asparagus Festival for the Red Deer County farm that will feature narrated wagon tours to the asparagus fields to watch harvesting in action. Children’s activities include farm animals, games, face painting, a pea pit, a small bale maze and more.
The Country Store will be stocked with fresh produce, preserves, pies, beef and more.
New this year is a food truck will be parked at the festival. Local chef Matt Burton will be cook up asparagus dishes. On May 27 the sous chef from Calgary’s River Cafe will do tastings. On June 10 chef Jamie Harling from Calgary’s Deane House will be on site.
An Artisan Market Village will showcase the talents of at least 20 artists.
Edgar said in 2014 as many as 500 to 1,000 visitors came out to the festival daily so a field has been set aside for parking.
The festival runs rain or shine. Admission is $5. Children age five and under are free. For more information visit www.edgarfarms.com
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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