Marin Farm Day Returns!
By Matt Dolkas,
Senior Manager, Marketing
March 22, 2022
After two years of postponement due to the pandemic, the Marin Farm Day returned this year to the Marin County Fairgrounds and, from my firsthand experience, was a huge success. With more than 30 interactive exhibits, kids of all ages got up close and personal with the animals of our working lands — a fantastic celebration of the lands that feed us.
From their surprised facial expressions and shrieks of excitement, you could tell that for many of the hundreds (if not thousands) of kids that attended this year’s event, it was clearly the first time they’d been this close to a farm animal, let alone be able to get their hands on one. I watched as wave after wave of exuberant kids were begrudgingly pulled away from the petting areas by their time-conscious parents and chaperones. For some of these youngsters, this was obviously the highlight of the year — the making of sweet memories.
If you’ve ever been to the Marin Farm Day, you get it: so much adorableness, so little time. And in case you missed it, here are a few images and what to look forward to next year.
The only challenge participants seemed to face was to know where to start and I had a similar experience. What was the play? Start with a visit to the 10-day old baby goats (eek!), or maybe the ridiculously adorable lambs…? Or maybe the chance to sit on a real-life tractor…? Fortunately, you really couldn’t go wrong as all of the exhibits at this year’s Farm Day had something special to offer, a small window into the life of our region’s vibrant food systems.
I couldn’t help but wonder what this event would have looked like without the work MALT has put in over these last 42 years: 54,459 acres of protected farmland, 91 agricultural conservation easements and an ongoing commitment to supporting our region’s vibrant, agrarian community. So much of what we celebrate at this event are the very things we at MALT are working to protect.
With its long and storied history, it was thrilling to see Farm Day come together once again and to have so many members of our agricultural community all in the same spot. What a tremendous turn out and thanks again, UC Cooperative Extension – Marin, for coordinating another fantastic event.
We’ll see you next year!