Gibson Farm Market Fall Festival to showcase student-made products

The Rue and Gwen Gibson Farm Market (5368 N. Chestnut Ave, Fresno) will host its fall festival from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 21. The festival will showcase a wide variety of food and wine products made by Fresno State students and staff.

The free event will feature a campus-grown pumpkin patch and free samples from its dairy, meat, fruit, vegetables, nut, horticulture and food processing units overseen by the Jordan College of Agricultural Sciences and Technology.

“This fall festival is great because it allows our campus farm students to share their passion for agriculture directly with our loyal customers,” said Jeremy Lewis, farm market manager. “This event also showcases how Fresno State students create a wide assortment of fresh products on campus while gaining valuable experience for all sorts of agricultural careers. Besides the free samples, families can get great deals on Halloween pumpkins and fall season food items, while kids will enjoy many special promotions.”

The award-winning Fresno State Winery will offer a free wine-tasting for its 2016 Touriga red wine between 12 to 4 p.m. and will also sample its 2016 Barbera, 2015 Cabernet Sauvignon and 2014 Merlot wines. The farm market is the only store in the Central Valley that sells all 12 wines currently available from the nation’s first bonded collegiate winery.

A kid’s zone will be open will offer free a scavenger hunt, face painting, crafts, prizes, campus farm animals and a chance to take a picture on a tractor.

Free Fresno State food samples will include the market’s popular raisins, pumpkin pie and Tahitian vanilla ice cream, sausage and beef snack sticks, raspberry tea, olive oil, chicken tortilla soup, cranberry sauce and other items.

Patrons can also purchase BBQ tri-tip sandwiches prepared by the Fresno State meats lab and fall season items such as cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie-flavored almonds, pumpkin butter and pumpkin cookies.

The horticulture nursery will also be offering a host of fall and winter vegetables plants at reduced prices.

Patrons can also vote for their favorite pumpkins carved by each of the campus farm units.

The Gibson Farm Market is the only place to buy all the products from the 1,000-acre University Agricultural Laboratory’s 22 enterprises that are managed by Fresno State staff and students. Proceeds from sales help fund programs for the Jordan College, and its enterprises that mirror the diversity of the nation’s leading agricultural area.

More information is available by calling the Gibson Farm Market at 559.278.4511.