September is the start of the harvest season and Urban Triage is getting ready to show off all of the hard work they’ve been doing this spring and summer as they host the 3rd annual Urban Harvest Festival, which celebrates the achievements and community impact of the non-profit’s agriculture program. This year’s Harvest Festival, themed “Duke & Boots,” will have activities and performances, live music, and delicious food, and will take place on Saturday, Sept. 7, 3-8 p.m., at the Linda and Gene Farley Center for Peace, Justice & Sustainability.
“There will be live music. There will be jugglers, a magician, a spoken-word artist. There will be aerialists and stilt walkers. There will be bouncy houses. It’s gonna be a really big party,” Ruthanna Hutton-Okpalaeke, the agriculture program manager for Urban Triage, tells Madison365. “There will be fresh produce given away. We will have African drummers. It is really going to be an amazing event.”
Urban Triage is a Madison non-profit that centers Blackness as it transforms culture, institutions, and communities to ensure a humane future. The annual Harvest Fest is one of the organization’s signature events.
“This is our third annual Harvest Fest. We’ve been out at the Farley Center for three years. We love to share this space with other people and the work we’re doing in the space that we’re in because the Farley Center is just a really lovely place to be,” Hutton-Okpalaeke explains. “We put in a lot of work each year so it’s very special to celebrate at the Harvest Festival.”
The Linda and Gene Farley Center for Peace, Justice & Sustainability, dedicated to socially progressive change, community partnership, sustainability and ecological justice, is located at 2299 Spring Rose Rd. in Verona.
“Each year, we try to expand the programming that we do out at the farm … we have two programs out at the farm. We have a family gardening-style program where you learn how to grow different foods. You get a CSA [Community Supported Agriculture] share and a garden bed installed,” says Hutton-Okpalaeke. “We also have a specialty crop program, which is basically a business program centered around growing agricultural products. So we just started that second program last year.”
Every year, Urban Triage celebrates another great harvest season by having a party at the Harvest Festival.
“Harvest time is a special time and we love every moment of it, and it’s so exciting to share the food with our community members,” Hutton-Okpalaeke says. “It’s so rewarding to do the work and watch the thing that you started as a seed turn into a full-blown plant. We love being able to do that with adults and their kids, their grandparents and their grandkids. I think it’s really rewarding for everyone.”
This year’s Harvest Festival will feature a variety of activities and performances including aerialists, acrobats, stiltwalkers, jugglers, tightrope performances, a magic show, children’s museum activities, face painting, bounce houses, African drummers, a live performance from the Cigarette Break Band from Milwaukee, spoken word, and much more.
Additionally, complimentary wine and beer will be provided, as well as an assortment of free food.
“At this event, I’m really just excited to be able to see our community members get to experience our farm and the Farley Center. I think a lot of people don’t tend to know about that space, and it is really a community space and a space for new and beginning farmers,” says Hutton-Okpalaeke. “They do a lot of community work in the Madison area and they work with us in that way. I think once you know about it, it’s just like a wonderful place to go and relax and explore. And they offer a lot of really wonderful programs as well out there.”
Urban Triage’s Harvest Fest aims to create a space where “people of all ages can gather, engage, and celebrate community.”
“We are hoping to have a great turnout this year,” says Hutton-Okpalaeke. “We absolutely still need volunteers for this event.
To volunteer at the 3rd Annual Urban Harvest Festival, click here. Shifts are two hours, and staff accompanies all volunteers
