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Around 200 parents and kids laid their picnic blankets on the lawn of Wright-Locke Farm on Aug. 11 as they sat down for the final Family Farm Night of this year.
Kids gathered in front of the band to dance, sometimes with their parents and sometimes alone. Parents sit on their picnic blankets munching on food they brought from home or bought at the farm.
Tonight, Matt Heaton and the Outside Toys performed from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. Heaton sang songs from his “All of Us” album.
His performances involve audience participation. For his song “I Like to Count,” he asked the gaggle of kids in front of him to give him a number to count to.
The farm offers food, drinks and a fan favorite among the kids: popsicles from Wild Pops. There’s always a long line for popsicles.
This year, Family Farm Night started on July 28 after extreme heat and rain cancelled one of the earlier shows and postponed another. July 28’s concert featured Honey Steelers Band, a blend of different genres of country music.
Aug. 4 was the farm’s second concert, where Ethan Robbins performed bluegrass music, a genre that blends blues and jazz with Irish ballads and dance music.
For over a decade, Family Farm Nights have brought together Winchester and surrounding communities for four nights of free fun and music. For Amikbika Patel, the event director for Wright-Locke Farms, it’s one of the most rewarding events to put on.
“These community events really fill my cup,” Patel said. “[It] just feels really good and wholesome.”
Family Farm Night started because the Wright-Locke Farm wanted to put on a free community event. When it was originally organized, the concerts were hosted inside the barn.
Over the years, the crowds outgrew the barn’s capacity, and the farm started hosting it outside. The number of events the farm would host also changed.
When Amy Rindskopf, the operations and Farm To Go manager, started in 2015, they used to do around seven Family Farm nights each summer. Eventually, it was cut down to four concerts to make it more manageable for staff.
Top row, from left: Ann Polefko hands out popsicles with a smile; Jacob Hooker plays Frisbee with his family; and Yalaine Hsing and Maxine Gerlach, both 3, enjoy frozen treats; Middle row, from left: Clem Bodszar, 8, dances to the Ethan Robins Band; Kim Burditt plays with her mother, Josie; and Maeve Gavin, 2, and her mother Pippa enjoy dinner as the Ethan Robins Band plays; Bottom row, from left: Noa Ebstein, 3, and Alexis Bohenko, 4, play on old farm equipment while Noah Shwom, 8, Abe Shwom, 6, and Max and Maverick Miller, 5 and 8, play soccer. WINCHESTER NEWS STAFF PHOTOS/NICOLE GOODHUE BOYD
Family Farm Nights are sponsored by EnKa Society, Winchester Co-Operative Bank and You Can Do It Gardening, which is the reason the farm has been able to keep the events free.
“This event is super rewarding, not just for the community, but for the farm as well,” Patel said.
For many of the attendees, going to Family Farm Nights is like a tradition. Lyla Byer comes back each year for the nostalgia and the “nice atmosphere.”
For Gracie Baruzzi’s family, this event is a fan favorite.
“We love these,” Baruzzi said. “This is our favorite event of the summer.”
Tavishi Chattopadhyay is a journalism student at Boston University.
