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Harvest Fest celebrates Summit County autumns

Horse-drawn wagon rides will be part of the Recycle Utah's fourth annual Harvest Fest that will take place at High Star Ranch in Kamas on Saturday, Oct. 5. (Photo courtesy of Recycle Utah)
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Four years ago, Recycle Utah, the Park City-based nonprofit organization that is dedicated to reducing waste in the community, presented its first annual Harvest Fest.

The idea, which is still intact today, was to celebrate all things concerning Summit County in the fall during a time when nothing really happened, said executive director Insa Riepen.

"We wanted to host an event that did not conflict with anything else, which is why we decided to hold it the first week of October," Riepen said during an interview with The Park Record. "Four years ago, this was the only thing happening at that time."

Recycle Utah will continue the tradition with its fourth annual Harvest Festival that will be held at High Star Ranch in Kamas on Saturday, Oct. 5, from noon until 5 p.m.

The event is free and open to the public.

"We’re holding it a little earlier this year because last year it got a little cold around 6 p.m.," Riepen said.

One of the reasons the Harvest Fest is held in Kamas is to promote the county.

"We have access to an amazing place, which is the High Star Ranch," Riepen said. "If you are in Kamas on this huge, fantastic space, you get a feeling that the county is awesome."

As it did the first year, Recycle Utah contacted various vendors and artisans to participate in the Harvest Fest.

"We went around the town and also looked into Coalville and Henefer to find local vendors and showcase what they do," Riepen said. "We looked for people who worked with leather and made saddles and people who did arts and crafts and things like that.’

In addition to the crafts, Riepen wanted to shine a spotlight on local food producers.

"This is where Red Bicycle Breadworks and the Yee-haw Pickle Company started out," Riepen said. "Now, they are established businesses."

This year, producers will include Red Bicycle, Summit County Beef and Canyon Meadows Ranch.

"We’ll also have locally produced cheeses and Paula Woods, the former owner of Morning Ray Café in Park City, will bring her pancake mixes," Riepen said.

Gateway Grille will sell pork sliders and Happy Pigs Sausage, Los Montes Restaurant and Done to Your Taste Catering will offer other select foods, she said.

Another attraction will be the Rotary Club of Park City’s Rotary Pies.

"They all get together and go pick apples in Oakley and make 25 to 30 apple pies that will be sold whole or by the slice, á la mode or plain," Riepen said. "We’ll also have people making homemade donuts.

"We’ll also offer local libations including beer from the Wasatch Brew Pub in our beer garden," she said.

While the Harvest Fest is a Summit County-based celebration, other participants hail from Wasatch and Utah counties, she said.

"Since the Uinta Headwaters Resource Conservation and Development Council will be there, we are actually trying to expand the Harvest Fest to include those other areas," Riepen said. "Uinta Headwaters is responsible for improving and protecting the environment and natural resources through community development in these three counties, so we’ve invited vendors from Utah County to sell pumpkins and apples and we’ll also have a woman from Wasatch County who makes tutus."

Other activities will include wagon rides from Coalville, live music and a pumkin patch.

"Right now the confirmed artists are singer and songwriters Shane Jackman and, Che Zuro, jazz band Take Five and rock band The Blue Star Band," Riepen said.

This year, the stage will be in front of ranch’s hay barn.

"Last year we put the stage inside the barn and it got cold, so we decided to put it outside," Riepen said.

Recycle Utah volunteer Kathleen Riley, who is also a South Summit Elementary School art teacher, planned the children’s activity.

"They will make monster heads out of recycled materials," Riepen said. "The first year they made pumpkins out of chunks of wood, and last year they made ravens out of wood and feathers that were found throughout the county."

The children’s craft will be limited to 100 kids, so Riepen encourages families to arrive early.

Other artists that will be presenting their works include Artique and other artisan craft makers, she said.

"We will also hold a limited silent auction that will include season ski passes and other items to raise money that will offset the cost of putting on this festival," Riepen said.

Still, Riepen said the Harvest Fest wouldn’t have been made possible without the support of the following sponsors: Park City Foundation, Park City Municipal Corporation, Summit County, Snyderville Basin Water Reclamation District, The Jonas Family, The Lund Foundation, Promontory Foundation and the Raymond Family Foundation.

Other sponsors include ACE Disposal, Aloha Ski and Snowboard Rental, Cole Sport, Canyons, Christoph & Co., Deer Valley Resort, Gallery MAR, Good Earth Recycling, Grand Valley Bank-Frontier Branch, Intermountain Mortgage, Mountain Velo, Mountain West Bank, Park City Board of Realtors, Park City Mountain Resort, Park City Rotary Club, Park City Signs, P.J. Builders, Squatters Roadhouse Grill, Sunrise Rotary Club, Triumph Gear Systems and the Wasatch Brew Pub.

"The Harvest Festival is a Summit County celebration where everybody and anybody is invited," Riepen said. "We hope to see many people there."

Recycle Utah will host the fourth annual Harvest Festival at High Star Ranch, 976 N. S.R. 32 in Kamas, on Saturday, Oct. 5, from noon until 5 p.m. Admission is free. For more information or to volunteer, visit http://www.recycleutah.org or call (435) 649-9698.


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