Onondaga County names 12 farms for Harvey Skeele Farm Fest

Twelve farms will open their gates for Harvey Skeele ON Farm Fest in September, giving Onondaga County residents a free way to see how local food is grown and sold as pressure grows on farmland, food budgets and local sourcing. The event also puts a spotlight on a county that is home to more than 650 farms and on the growers who supply much of the region’s fresh food.

The 10th annual ON Farm Fest is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 19, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Organizers say the family-friendly event will feature farm tours, local products and food for sale, live music and interactive exhibits. Visitors are being asked to leave dogs at home and stay with tour guides, since the host sites are working farms.

The festival now carries the name Harvey Skeele ON Farm Fest in honor of Harvey Skeele, a longtime Onondaga County Agriculture Council co-chair who helped create both the Onondaga Grown campaign and ON Farm Fest. Skeele, a retired dairy farmer from Fabius, hosted thousands of visitors at his own farm and became one of the county’s most visible advocates for direct connections between farmers and consumers.

That connection is exactly what the county has tried to strengthen through Onondaga Grown, the campaign launched to encourage people to buy food and products grown in Onondaga County. County officials and agriculture leaders have repeatedly framed the effort around the CNY Regional Market, where shoppers can buy freshly harvested food, pick up recipe and preparation tips and support farmers in their own community.

The number of host farms has changed from year to year, but the county’s September tour has remained a major showcase for local agriculture. In 2025, officials announced 10 host farms for the ninth annual event, while the tour itself featured 11 farms. Coverage in 2023 said 12 farms were open for tours. This year’s list of 12 farms underscores both the scale of the event and the range of agriculture now operating across Onondaga County, from places such as Fabius, Skaneateles, LaFayette, Pompey, Clay and Baldwinsville to farms closer to Syracuse.

For families looking to understand where their food comes from, the fest offers a direct look at working farms and the next generation of farm practices. For the county’s agriculture economy, it remains one of the clearest public reminders that local food production is still a living part of Onondaga County’s future.