Greenbank Farms Annual Loganberry Festival
Music, food, wine tasting, arts and crafts fair and fun are all part of the annual Loganberry Festival July 29 and 30 at the Whidbey Island Greenbank Farm. Located in the middle of Whidbey Island, the free summer celebration is held every year towards the end of July on both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Conductor of Fun Jim Freeman has lined up a schedule of fabulous music co-sponsored by Whidbey Island Bank and Whidbey Telecom. There will be a break every two hours for a children’s pie-eating contest: loganberry pie, of course. The contest is open to children age 12 and under.
There is always some form of musical entertainment that begins on Saturday morning with some local vocalists and instrument artists as well. This year there will be the piano and harmonica rhythms of Natalie Schmidt.
The Washington Poets Association present poetry performances and an open mic on the stage by the Jim Davis House both Saturday and Sunday at the festival beginning at noon. The association presented the popular Burning Word Poetry Festival at the Greenbank Farm last April.
There will also be an opportunity for others to read some of their own poetry. The stage is co-sponsored by Porter Whidbey Insurance and Wallgren’s Les Schwab Tires. The stage is by the Jim Davis House.
The Whidbey Evangelical Free Church of Greenbank will again provide lots of special activities for children on the farm grounds both days. Tickets are a few cents to each carnival-like activity.
Winemakers from Whidbey and the greater Puget Sound area will be assembled under tent to talk about their wines. Wines will be available to taste and to purchase by the bottle or by the glass to enjoy with lunch. The Greenbank Farm’s favorite loganberry wine and its sister loganberry dessert wine will be poured by local volunteers. All proceeds from the wine tasting go to support Greenbank Farm.
Lunch fare is provided by local vendors including Jan Gunn’s Whidbey Pies and ice cream, Karin Coleman’s sausage dogs with her Scandinavian mustards, the Central Whidbey Lions Club’s traditional American hot dogs, Craig and Debbie Vrungos’s kettle corn, Island Chef Tim Groken’s chowder, crab cakes and seafood sauté, Nadya’s Greek cuisine by the wine tents, the Lariat Ladies from Lilliwaup barbecue and more. Mike Diamanti will be serving espresso delights from his Island Coffee booth and we will again have shaved ice concoctions.
Beautiful and useful arts and crafts will be available for sale from booths on site. There will be over 60 booths of great arts and crafts and a new area featuring home-based and commercial businesses. Shopkeepers at the farm will be open both days, including Artworks Art Gallery, I Remember When Antiques, Two Tacky Ladies, Greenbank Farms Cheese Shop, the Wine Shop and Whidbey Pies Cafe.
What are Loganberries? The loganberry is a cross between the blackberry and a raspberry. It was developed by James Harvey Logan in the 1980s. The Greenbank Farm was once the largest loganberry vineyard in the world, the farm was purchased by private and public entities in 1998 to serve as a tourist destination and a community resource. The loganberry fields were in disrepair by then. A newer smaller vineyard has been established and the farm is organically certified. The berries are available for harvest by early July. By the time of the festival there may still be loganberries for purchase from the U-pick patch both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will certainly be loganberry pie to purchase.
The farm grounds are a wonderful place to spend a day, offering room for the bustle of festival activities as well as trails to roam with pets on leash and grand sea and mountain vistas. The Greenbank Farm is just off Highway 525 and the Wonn Road in Greenbank. Island Transit is a free bus service Monday through Saturday; find schedules at www.islandtransit.org.
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