Unhappy with this summer’s canceled festivals and fairs around Centre County, Jason Coopey, co-owner at Way Fruit Farm, decided to take matters into his own hands — and now, he’s hosting what’s being billed as the largest art show in central Pennsylvania this year.
The expansive Way Fruit Farm, 2355 Halfmoon Valley Road, Port Matilda, will be home to Art in the Orchard, July 8-10, featuring 60 artists, 15 food trucks and vendors and nine bands over the three days.
“I just felt bad, because COVID has been hard on everybody, and especially most small businesses; the businesses that survived this and did really well were the Amazons and the Walmarts and things like that,” Coopey explains. “The ones that have taken and bore the brunt of it are a lot of the smaller food trucks that used to go to carnivals, the artists that did these shows…”
Way Fruit Farm is one of those small businesses that bore the brunt of the pandemic, but Coopey counts his business as lucky, as the farm’s full-service store was able to offer grocery delivery and contactless pick-ups.
“It was a challenge, but we made it through last year without any major problems, so we’re excited to keep moving forward,” he says.
Arts and crafts vendors will be situated among the farm’s orchard rows. Vendors were sourced as locally as possible and, to participate, were required to actually make their products themselves.
Coopey says attendees can expect to see “a fair number of artists” that usually appear at Boalsburg’s People’s Choice Festival. A full list of the artists and artisans in attendance is available on the Way Fruit Farm website.
Food vendors will offer everything from barbecue to ice cream to specialty coffee. Food vendors and the live music stage will be located in one of the farm’s open fields. Three bands are slated to play each day of the event.
“We’ll have everything from some country music to Velveeta, to Canary, to Tussey Mountain Moonshiners,” Coopey says. “So everything from bluegrass to rock and roll, and a little bit of everything in between.”
Admission is free, but Way Fruit Farm is using the event as a kick off for a newly-formed nonprofit, A Way to Help. The angel organization will allow those in need to go online or call the organization to make requests for assistance covering costs that aren’t or can’t be covered via traditional means of assistance, such as covering the costs of a family’s rent for a month or even the fees for a child’s sporting equipment for a family that can’t afford it.
“We just feel that sometimes that’s what government misses — those little things like getting a kid a baseball bat. Some people can’t afford it, and so, it’s going to be a way that people can get those things done,” Coopey says.
During the event, attendees will be able to find donation booths for A Way to Help and extra proceeds from the event will go to the nonprofit.
Coopey is unsure how many attendees to expect at this first Art in the Orchard. With seven acres for parking he can envision attracting anywhere “from 100 to 10,000 people,” he says with a laugh.
If the event is successful, though, Coopey can foresee hosting it again next summer.
“I think that we can fit a niche,” he says. “People’s Choice and Arts Festival — we’re never going to replace those or even hurt their business — but what I think that we might be able to do is … I think that we might be able to find a niche here for the hyper-local, smaller artists that can’t afford those larger shows.”Learn more about Art in the Orchard at www.wayfruitfarm.com/artintheorchard or www.facebook.com/wayfruitfarm.
