Harvey Harvest Italian Festival

Lots of event choices during Harmony Week ("We are the world. We are the children...")included: general international, indigenous, Bangladesh, Polish, head-banging music & art, etc. We chose to go Italian, for reasons beyond the commonplace, at the Harvey Harvest Italian Festival.

I like Harvey. Lots of orange orchards, dairy farms, beef cattle, fresh produce stands, great cheese place, 'my' Italian winemaker who sells his free range eggs for $3/doz and pours grappa for Kev, other winemakers nearby, cheap factory grocery store and a wonderful bit of kitsch in a 14 meter tall orange observation stand called "The Big Orange".

The harvest festival (not the same as "The Show" or county fair) had all the requisite fair type offerings and activities: inflatable bouncey castles & slides for kids, antique cars for dads, handmade jewelry stands for moms, local alpaca and soap products, numerous food stands for everybody and a wine tasting area for me. Couldn't convince Kev that the Grape Stomp competition was a good idea-the Open Invitation division was won in great style by a couple of backpackers.

I was on a mini-mission at this festival. I wanted to take the free tour of Harvey. I'd been to the area before but getting a real introduction tickled my fancy. We were obliged to fasten our seatbelts on the tour bus. Didn't know that Italians had been held in internment camps there during WWII. They stuck around afterwards. It was those folks I wanted to connect with. Who better to lead you to a superior supply of roma tomatoes for canning than old Italians?

At the edge of the park where the festival was held was a CWA (Country Women Association) house and I paid them a visit. But about the CWA, I shall write later. All in all, a nice Sunday afternoon with the added delight for Kev in scoring a six-pack of a favored Jarah Jack's beer.