Vale Wood Farms Tours
Traveling through Pennsylvania, it’s easy to witness agriculture’s heavy influence on the state’s economy. While we may pass dozens of farms in our daily travels, many of us remain uninformed about the challenges and rewards of this industry. Vale Wood Farms, a dairy farm located in Loretto, PA, recognizes this fact and opens the doors to their farm three times a year, encouraging the public learn more about dairy farming in our area.
According to the Pennsylvania Center for Dairy Excellence, our state is the 5th largest producer of milk in the United States. Vale Wood Farms offers a unique look into this business by hosting spring and fall open houses and a summertime day of festivities.
“We feel it is part of our responsibility to share our agricultural heritage,” says Carissa Westrick, Director of Marketing at Vale Wood Farms. “It’s really a lot of fun for us, too.”
The spring tours are held during the month of May and are limited to groups of 15 or more. The itinerary includes visiting the cow and calf area for an hour and then another hour at the processing area. “We host groups of all ages,” says Carissa, “from pre-school to vocational schools; from college students to senior citizens. We tailor the tour the suit the group.”
Are these tours popular? More so than even Vale Wood Farms staff would have expected. Each May since the tours began a decade ago, they can expect 3,000 or more people to pass through their working farm. Spring tours are by appointment only and can be reserved by calling (814) 886-7171. Tours cost $4.00 per person and include a sample of chocolate or strawberry milk. For only $1.00 more you can include an ice cream sample, too.
The fall open house is themed towards the harvest time our region experiences each year. These tours are open to groups of all sizes and include a guided hayride tour of the farm and time in the farm’s pumpkin patch. The pumpkin patch and additional hayrides each cost $2.00 per person.
Between the open house events, the farm hosts a customer appreciation day each summer. This event is free and features live music and fun competitions that include cow-milking and ice cream-eating contests.
The staff at Vale Wood Farms seems to get as much from these events as their visitors do. “We’re a small family business. This really gives us the opportunity to interact one-on-one with our customers,” says Carissa. “It also opens a dialog about where our food comes from. If you can show someone, it puts so much more perspective on what they see in the grocery store.”
And, of course, it’s a low-cost way to have fun with your family right here in the Johnstown area.
Vale Wood Farms is located at 517 Vale Wood Road, Loretto, PA (click here for a map). Watch the “Do Johnstown!” calendar or visit www.valewoodfarms.com for dates and additional details on all of these opportunities.
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This entry was posted on Sunday, May 2nd, 2010 at 4:57 pm and is filed under Sports & Leisure. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
