Joe Jurgielewicz & Sons Ltd. provided the seven ducklings for the 2017 Pa. Farm Show’s duck slide.
It’s that time of year again. Maybe you already can smell it in the air. The 101st Pennsylvania Farm Show, the largest indoor agricultural exposition in the United States, opens this weekend at the state Farm Show Complex.
The famous Farm Show food court debuts tomorrow, a day before the rest of the show, from noon to 9 p.m. There, visitors can sample the best of Pennsylvania food products, including honey ice cream, fresh baked potatoes, pulled-pork sandwiches and, of course, those legendary Farm Show milkshakes (just look for the longest line).
If you make it past the food court, you’ll discover hundreds of farm animals, a rodeo and animal judging competitions from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Admission is free.
Parking costs $15 on the Farm Show grounds. Drivers also can park at Harrisburg Area Community College on Wildwood Park Drive or at the intersection of Elmerton Avenue and Sycamore Street. A free shuttle transports visitors from parking lots to the show.
In the same expo hall as the food court, visitors can find the duck slide and chick hatch. Seven ducklings waddle up a small hill to slide into a heated “pond.” An incubator warms eggs and recently hatched chicks.
Chicks will hatch each day of the Farm Show in this incubator.
To start off the hatching this year, PennAg Industries today matched eggs with “local celebrities” such as Gov. Tom Wolf, Broad Street Manager Beth Taylor and TheBurg’s own Editor-in-Chief Lawrance Binda.
PennAg is donating $1,000 to the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank in the name of the first egg that hatched. That honor went to egg number 12, Nancy from Bob 94.9 FM’s Nancy and Newman show.
Last year, the Farm Show skipped the poultry for fear of Europe’s bird flu scare.
“All of us in agriculture knew that it was a reminder that we are subject to what happens around world,” said Russell Redding, secretary of the PA Department of Agriculture.
He said Farm Show visitors ask him about two things: the new flavor of the milkshake and the chick hatching.
“Folks flock to see them. Kids love them,” he said.
The 101st Pennsylvania Farm Show runs Jan. 7 to 14 at the PA Farm Show Complex, Cameron and Maclay streets, Harrisburg. For more information, visit www.farmshow.state.pa.us.
Author: Danielle Roth
