Vollmer Farm’s “Blueberry Music Festival” returns for its second year. The celebration is especially poignant, as the farm is celebrating their blueberry crop while facing repercussions from their strawberry crop loss. They plan to make a special and exciting day of it with all who care to join them!
The festival offers “a day of fun and celebration” including music, Back Forty play, cooking classes, pie eating contests, food trucks, beer and wine, and the joy of Farmer Russ’ 50th birthday.
The Second Annual Blueberry Music Festival is at the farm on June 25, 2016, starting at 2pm. The fun continues until closing time at 9pm. Vollmer Farm is located at 677 NC 98 Hwy E, Bunn NC. You can’t miss it — just look for the farm stand and growing fields along Highway 98 a minute or two out of Bunn.
Visitors of all ages are invited to join the Blueberry Pie Eating contest. Enter for the kids contest, or the adults contest, and enjoy lots of pie!
Vendors and demonstrators include:
- The Squash Blossom trailer will be on-site, with Chef Wendy Perry, recipe developer for Our State Magazine, personal chef, and local food activist, onsite for blueberry cooking demonstrations.
- Flour Power will be at the farm doing kids’ cooking demonstrations, giving away prizes, cooking classes, and more goodies.
The day’s performing artists include:
- Allegheny Willi & Suite 201 Band (Americana/Blues)
- Jamie Pridgen Music (Country)
- Damascus Ridge (Original/Classic Bluegrass)
- Aaron Gallagher Music
Food of all types is going to be offered, so there’ll be much more than blueberry pie! Plenty of refreshments, with a focus on our farm harvest and other local farm offerings, will be available for purchase.
- Tasty Tunes Food Truck serving burgers, dogs, chicken wings, hand-cut fries, fresh cooked pork skins & much more!
- Rare Earth Farm Food Truck with juicy, all natural grass-fed Beef Burgers & more!
- Vollmer Farm is cooking whole pigs and BBQ chicken.
- Other blueberry goodies and tasty treats are planned.
- Sodas, water, and plenty of beverages to quench your thirst
- Vollmer Farm blended drinks: Blueberry Ice Tea & Blueberry Lemonade
- For adults, ice cold beer and wine selections — including a blueberry craft brew!
- Vollmer Farm homemade blueberry cobbler, homemade blueberry ice cream, and other ice cream flavors too.
- Vollmer Farm is cooking Corn-On-The-Cob, farm-grown new potatoes, and slaw.
The Back-40 playground will be open too! According to Farmer Russ:
We usually only open the Back-40 in the fall, but for this event we want kids to have plenty of fun things to do too! Included with your ticket price is access to the: Great Pumpkin Jump (2500 sq. foot jumping pillow), Windmill Mountain Giant 100-foot underground slide, Cow Barrel Train, Goat Walk, Rat Racer Barrels, two large playground areas and beautiful farm grounds to explore. Plus two misting tents to keep you cool! And by the way, our Back 40 is fun for ALL ages! 🙂
The first Blueberry Music Festival was held at Vollmer Farm on June 20, 2015. Last year drew a big crowd, and this year’s entertainment, food, and fun are even bigger.
Buy tickets by June 20, 2016, and they are just $12. Tickets will be $15 at the door. Tickets may be purchased online in advance. When buying tickets, note that kids 12 and younger get free admission. This is a RAIN or SHINE event on June 25, 2016, with no ticket refunds due to bad weather.
Money from ticket sales will be shared with Feeding Franklin Inc., a non-profit that helps feed and distribute food to Franklin County folks in need. Plus, dollars spent at the festival will help the farm to recover, financially, from recent crop losses due to bad weather. Come and partake of the farm feast and festival vendors; no outside food or drinks.
About their 2016 strawberry crop, the Vollmers posted on Facebook May 4, 2016, to let their customers and friends know how the storm impacted their strawberry season:
Dear Vollmer Farm Friends & Supporters,
It is with much sadness to report that our strawberry season is coming to a quick end.
Recent storms have caused so much damage, that now disease has spread through most of our crop. This reality, and also our commitment to organic farming, means nothing can be done to save our strawberry crop. We refuse to spray any chemicals that may slow the disease down, that are not approved for Certified Organic production. We accept this outcome as sustainable, organic farmers because, how we grow fruits and vegetables and the trust you put in us, is more important than one strawberry crop.
We are so grateful for the outpouring of volunteers coming out and picking berries to be donated, phone calls, messages, comments on our social media sites, friends getting the word out and all the prayers that went up after the big storm that hit us last Thursday night. We ask that you continue your prayers for our farm and for this hurt we are feeling.
One thing is for sure..The Sun will come out tomorrow and we will be ok. Our faith in God and in all of you, gives us great hope and reassurance that all will be well.
Here’s the good news!! We still have a few more days left, that you can come out and pick this fruit. If you are looking for berries for processing, now is the time to come. All remaining strawberries, both good and bad, are now priced at $5 per bucket, until we run out. We still will carry undamaged berries in our farm market that will be sold at regular price, until those too runs out.
Our farm market, ice cream shop and u-pick fields will be open all weekend from 10am til 7pm. Please bring your mothers out for this special weekend, in her honor, for live music on the porch, Tasty Tunes food truck, ice cream and good times! We’ll have fresh kale, tomatoes, asparagus and beets that are just coming out of the garden!
Thank you for continuing to support our family farm. Together, we can make a difference in our food system.
Peas on Earth,
Russ & Vanessa
About Vollmer Farm in Bunn NC:
Vollmer Farm is a 5th generation working family farm. We are focused on producing wholesome, organic produce as well as providing a genuine “REAL FARM” experience. Located only a half hour from the Triangle, in Bunn, NC; the farm enjoys many new and regular patrons from across NC and all over the world.
The farm is now led by farmer- Russell Vollmer, affectionately known as, “Uncle Russell”. As the backbone of the farm, he keeps his father’s and grandfather’s vision to provide patrons with a meaningful farm experience that is enormously fun and unique. Whether you’re picking berries in the picking your own pumpkin and playing on the “Back Forty” in the Fall, Uncle Russell has a true desire for your time spent on the farm to be special and memorable.
The farm grows fresh, organic produce, makes homemade ice cream & waffle cones and offers other delicious food items and unique gifts daily in the Farm Market & Ice Cream Shop.
In the Fall, you don’t want to miss coming to the “Back Forty”-a forty+ acre playground that has a bounty of activities and is FUN for all ages! Our one-price admission (similar to the cost of a movie ticket), provides you with a full day of FUN in a beautiful, fresh air environment. We appreciate feedback from our customers that the value they get at the farm is just incredible and like no other family entertainment or “farm” experience they’ve had anywhere! Come see for yourself what it’s all about.
As some of you may know, we lost “Farmer John” back in early June 2014 after he fought a courageous battle with cancer. He is missed every day on this farm to say the least, but his legacy still lives on through his children and grandchildren. Please visit our Vollmer Farm memory wall and story board in the farm market to see how it all started and continues today.
As Farmer John would say…
“Peas on Earth”, – Uncle Russell
Don’t forget to say “Happy Birthday” to Farmer Russ while you’re there.
