Newburgh Urban Farm Fair returns bigger, with free seedlings and soil testing

Newburgh’s annual urban farming fair returned to Downing Park as a practical stop for residents looking for free seedlings, soil testing and advice that could lower grocery bills and improve backyard growing.

The Newburgh Urban Farm and Food Initiative said the 10th annual fair was its biggest yet, with the event held from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at 207 Carpenter Avenue. Admission was free, and the mix of vendors and demonstrations stretched well beyond a standard garden sale. Orange County Master Gardeners handed out free seedlings and offered growing advice, while the New York City Urban Soils Institute provided free soil testing. The Regional Food Bank, the Orange County Department of Health, The Diva Gardener, the Newburgh Clean Water Project, Arm of the Sea theater and the Newburgh Sanctuary Garden at Crystal Lake also took part.

For NUFFI, the fair was built around the same work that drives the farm the rest of the year. The Downing Park Urban Farm grows about 5,000 pounds of food annually, and that harvest is distributed to seven food pantries in the City of Newburgh serving about 12,000 people per month. In a city where household grocery costs remain a pressure point, that makes the fair part of a larger food-access network rather than a one-day celebration.

The organization has also made contamination and soil health central to its message. NUFFI says the farm uses lined, raised beds to keep crops away from urban soil contaminants and also practices in-ground no-till carbon farming. That is why soil testing mattered so much at the fair: residents could learn whether their own growing spaces were safe and what they might need to change before planting vegetables or herbs at home.

Nancy Proyect, NUFFI’s program director, said the fair was meant to be fun and educational, not just informational. The programming backed that up with hands-on demonstrations, family activities and the kind of local connections that can turn a first-time visitor into a gardener or volunteer.

The farm’s presence in Downing Park traces back to a 2015 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development grant to the Newburgh Land Bank, followed by NUFFI’s launch of the Downing Park Urban Farm in 2016. After a hiatus during the prior growing season for infrastructure work, NUFFI said production resumed in renovated hoop houses and at SUNY Orange’s greenhouse. That continuity has helped turn the fair into an annual kickoff to the growing season, with hundreds of people from Newburgh and the surrounding area drawn to a city project that now links farming, public health and neighborhood food security.