By Austin Rust-
The 11th annual Wheat Ridge Old Thyme Herb Fair & Harvest Festival will be held Oct. 11- 13 at 817 Tater Ridge Road on Grindstone Farm, owned by Brad, Herb, and Kim Erwin, from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. each day. The event is well-known in the county and elsewhere for its huge variety of pumpkins, squash, gourds, and mums for sale and on display, its pumpkin cannon, and its many vendors who sell fresh herbs, quilts, hand-made crafts, and made-from-scratch foods.
Located in scenic Amish country, and accessible by either State Route 32 or Wheat Ridge Road, home to Miller’s Bakery and Furniture, the Erwins’ Grindstone Farm draws in both local visitors and tourists traveling from other parts of Ohio or Kentucky to Adams County. An antique shop is open on the farm year-round, known for its large and high-quality selections, and during the Old Thyme Herb Fair & Harvest Festival, the vendors come each year, selling to hundreds of visitors.
“This will be our 11th year,” said Kim Erwin. “It’s just myself, my husband, and my son. We always keep it on the second week of October. I work on it all year, because I go to other craft fairs, art shows, and festivals to recruit vendors. I go to Kettering, to Columbus, to Lexington.”
New vendors at the Old Thyme Herb Fair & Harvest Festival this year will sell antiques, old jewelry repurposed into new, herbal blends and spices for cooking, hand-blown glass pumpkins and Christmas ornaments, sewn items, quilts, soy candles, fabrics and yarn, and cedar crafts.
“As far as vendors, I try to keep it to where we have a diversity of things, because a lot of people like to come and shop,” Erwin explained. “They see that what we have here is unique. It’s not like going to another craft show or antique show, or anything like that. I think that’s what draws people in – just coming out to a working farm, and it’s a different type of festival than what they see in and around Cincinnati – that’s what I’ve noticed.”
“The food is different,” Erwin added. “It’s mostly all from scratch. There’s no processed food – that was one of my rules from the beginning. It’s not hot dogs or corn dogs – we try to keep away from greasy food. It’s not low-calorie, by any means, when you get to all of the pastries, desserts, ice cream, things like that, but it’s good. You have to splurge every once in a while.”
Food at the festival this year will include a grilled chicken dinner with sides, cooked by members of the Wheat Ridge Amish School, soft-dough pretzels, fried pies, creme horns, apples and apple cider, ice cream, kettle corn, tomato basil soup, fresh lemonade, and much, much more. A chef at the festival will be making a Sunday dinner, as well, with roast beef, mashed potatoes, and sides.
According to Kim Erwin, the Old Thyme Herb Fair & Harvest Festival was inspired by a similar herb fair at Lewis Mountain near Manchester, where the Erwins were vendors. When the woman who organized that festival retired, Kim and Herb Erwin continued the tradition with her blessing, and held a new herb fair and harvest festival at their farm on Tater Ridge Road.
“I’ve changed some things,” Kim Erwin explained. “I’ve found that the classes that were very popular over there for the people that came- we tried them for maybe the first three years, but people didn’t want to spend that much time. It’s not that the classes weren’t good – because they were – it’s just that nobody wanted to spend more than three or four hours at a festival. They didn’t want to spend an entire day at a festival. We stopped doing those, and I have different entertainment. I have different vendors. There are a few left from the original herb fair, but like the rest of us, a lot of them have aged and retired, or they’ve moved, gone into different endeavors.”
“The whole purpose of the festival was anything garden-related, herbal products, plants, and nice, hand-done craft. We just kind of build around that,” said Erwin. “I’ve added probably more antique dealers than were out there, and we have added our pumpkin cannon.”
The cannon, powered by air pressure, is first loaded with a small pumpkin or gourd. The projectile leaves the cannon at over 100 mph, and travels nearly a mile. With supervision, visitors will be allowed to pick out a pumpkin, squash, or gourd of their choice to fire into a nearby field.
As visitors arrive this year, they may be greeted by two friendly faces over the first fence. Curly and Moe, two longhorn cattle, are new to the farm this year. Purchased in late winter last year or perhaps early this spring, the two are young, gentle, and very curious, according to Kim Erwin. They share their enclosure with a small donkey.
“We’re expecting good weather, according to the long-range forecasts,” Erwin added. “We’re always at the mercy of the elements with any outdoor festival, (but) we’ve been pretty lucky so far. I think maybe only two years out of 10 did we have a day where it wasn’t the best weather, but it didn’t keep people away. And because everyone’s under a tent, that helps too.”
The 11th Wheat Ridge Old Thyme Herb Fair & Harvest Festival will begin at 10 a.m. on Oct. 11, ending at 5 p.m., and continue from 10 a.m.- 5 p.m. each day until Oct. 13.
To pick out a pumpkin, shoot the pumpkin cannon, eat freshly-made food, and check out arts, crafts, and antiques, visit the Erwins’ Grindstone Farm at 817 Tater Ridge Road.
