Don’t Miss the Great Island Grown Festival

by Lin McNulty

The upcoming, two-week islands-wide Great Island Grown Festival draws inter-island, off-island, and even Canadian visitors who come specifically for this delicious and educational event, according to Peggy Bill, Agricultural Resources Committee Coordinator. This is the second year for this specific Festival, although smaller events have been held since 2010.

The Great Island Grown Festival is county funded, with a grant from the Lodging Tax Advisory, through the Economic Development Council.

The Great Island Grown Festival features two weeks (October 1-13) of events and workshops, from distillery tastings and plein air farm painting to shellfish tours and sheepdog demonstrations to farm parades, bike tours of farms, and vineyard harvests. And, of course, farmers’ markets, harvest festival, and farm-to-table meals. Bill says one of the most exciting developments is the linking of local restaurants and local farmers.

What is Island Grown in the San Juans?

Island Grown in the San Juans is a membership organization of San Jan County farmers, restaurants, and supporters, celebrates the bounty of the islands’ rich agricultural heritage and inspires islanders, visitors, and businesses about the many benefits of buying locally-grown and harvested products from land and sea.

What’s With the Pear in the Boat?

Pear in the Boat logo – the symbol of the rich agricultural heritage and historic orchards of the island archipelago.

Island Grown in the San Juans chose a logo with a pear in a boat as a symbol of the rich agricultural heritage of the island archipelago situated in the waters of the Salish Sea. Pears played a key role in fruit raising in the San Juans during the period from the 1890s to the 1930s.  The pear represents an Orcas pear, a delicious heritage variety that was discovered by Joseph C. Long along a roadside on Orcas Island in 1966. The Orcas pear (Pyrus communis) is listed as an American Heirloom Pear in Slow Foods USA “Ark of Taste,” and is suitable for fresh consumption, canning, and drying.

The boat was, and still is, one of the primary means of transportation in the islands. Even today, islanders are known to transport their farm produce by boat to markets on other islands.

The San Juan Islands are blessed with a temperate climate and were once considered to be the breadbasket of Western Washington.  The local fruit industry began in earnest in the 1890s, with the introduction of Italian prune plums, and grew to include thousands of trees bearing apples, cherries, peaches, and pears.  During the early 1900s, farmers shipped boatloads of fruit from all the major islands to Salish Sea ports, where the produce was transported by rail throughout the country.  Although the islands no longer dominate Washington’s fruit industry, the legacy of historic orchards with local varieties such as the Orcas pear bear witness to the rich history of island fruit raising and distribution—a heritage that is still cultivated by San Juan County growers today.

The complete festival calendar and more details including dates and locations are available at the Island Grown website.