North Quabbin Woods Clippings

September 16, 2005 -- Wood Tables Keep Garlic Festival Close to Home

This weekend, as Garlic lovers feast on local locally grown garlic cuisine at the North Quabbin Garlic & Arts Festival in Orange, they will be sitting at a series of brand new tables constructed with white pine harvested from local forests.

In neighboring Athol, the Athol Merchants Association has scheduled the annual Fall Festival along Main Street, from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The rain date Sis ept. 24.

In Orange, Senator Stephen M. Brewer (D-Barre) is set to present Kathleen Forster, 98, with an official citation from the Massachusetts State Senate on Saturday, Sept. 17, at 11:30 a.m., during the Garlic Festival. The festival has been a community event in town for a number of years and is annually held at the Forster’s Farm located at 60 Chestnut Hill Rd.

The festival’s organizers, always keen on showcasing local agriculture and artisans, are incorporating increasing quantities of local wood into festival infrastructure. For a number of years Bill Rodgers and the Knights of Columbus have supported the festival by lending tables. This year with the festival’s expansion to two days, the festival committee decided to make its own tables that could be stacked and stored over the winter on site.

Bruce Scherer, a committee member and volunteer head of logistics for the festival, built the 30 tables with the help of Jacob Morris-Siegel of Royalston. Scherer, a woodworker who creates and sells wooden Marimbas, also recently started Heritage, a field mowing, maintenance, and restoration business. While Heritage has taken Scherer’s field restoration business from Winchendon to Warwick and Athol to Amherst, he has been busy over the past week preparing the large fields of the Forster Farm for the event.

Heyes Forest Products of Orange, which has supported the festival in the past by donating materials and excavating services, provided the lumber for the project. Heyes Forest Products has provided kiln dried forest products from the North Quabbin region to homeowners, contractors and the wholesale trade since 1970. Owner Fred Heyes, said he feels it is important to support the arts in the region and that “the Garlic Festival is a great venue for providing this support.” He explained that that the white pine used in the tables was harvested just down the road from the festival site on sustainably managed private woodland held under a conservation restriction from the Mass. Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

By utilizing local wood products the festival reinforces its commitment to supporting local businesses and demonstrating the value of local natural resources to the region’s economy. Both Heyes Forest Products and Bruce Scherer are members of North Quabbin Woods and have displayed their products at the Garlic and Arts Festival’s North Quabbin Woods tent. North Quabbin Woods aims to enhance the local economy by promoting sustainable forestry, locally made wood products and outdoor recreation. Other North Quabbin Woods members involved in Garlic and Arts Festival preparation include woodworker Doug Feeney and Tracker Organ builder and restorer Stefan Maier.

For information about and directions to the Garlic and Arts Festival visit www.garlicandarts.org.