It was a hee haw of good time as local residents of Northport, Huntington and Suffolk County gathered together for The 20th Annual Friends of The Farm Northport, New York Barn Dance on April 16, 2016 at the St. Philip Neri Parish Center in Northport, New York.
This festive event featured an assortment of great food from local cuisines, beer, wine, soda, coffee, dessert, door prizes and raffles.
Cognac with volunteer Lynn Rovolo.
Advance tickets were $50 per person, and tickets were $60 per person at the door. Friends of the Farm is a not-for-profit volunteer group, so all the proceeds made from the event go directly to feeding & caring for the sweet animals at Lewis Oliver Farm, and towards preserving the farm.
Before the event got started I was happy to sit down with the Founder Pam Veitch.
Cognac: Welcome back darlings, I am Cognac Wellerlane and I am here at the 20th Annual Northport Friends of the Farm Barn Dance and I am here with the founder of this wonderful organization that most of the proceeds are going to be donated towards. Introduce yourself to the camera.
Pam: Hi, good afternoon. My name is Pam Veitch. I am the founder of Friends of The Farm. We started some twenty-five years ago.
Twenty-five years.
Pam: Between twenty and twenty-five. I don’t know the exact date because time flies but we started as a small grass roots organization to help feed the animals at the Lewis Oliver Farm when it was privately owned and then when the owners decided to see the property we kicked into high gear and actually was able to get the Town of Huntington, Suffolk County and Northport Village to purchase the farm and we are the managing agents of the property to this date.
Why do you have such a passion for this?
Pam: Where did my passion come from? Passion came from… I was a mother of four small children and we lived in the area. We used to walk up to the farm all the time and admire the animals and I thought it was such a wonderful thing to be able to have these barnyard animals right here in our backyard… something that kids don’t really get to see anymore locally.
Now this event has been going on for twenty years, wow that long… the community has been doing this for twenty years.
Friends of the Farm Auction Items
Pam: It is a great fundraiser. We do it once a year. I am now one of the caterers of this event tonight. We have great donations. My children own 51 Broadway Greenlawn Deli, and Copenhagen Bakery donates food. Maroni Cuisine donates food, and Nocello’s in Northport.
What are we going to be eating here tonight?
Pam: Oh my goodness. We have a whole bunch of stuff. We have split pea soup, sauteed brussel sprouts… we have a couple of vegan salads, eggplant rolotini, famous Maroni meatballs, some pasta dishes. There is something for everybody I am sure.
Sounds delish. What are your goals for this new year coming up for the farm?
Pam: Actually I am the out going President. I have been the President since the onset and last year I had asked for somebody else to step us because my life has been taking a turn. Another turn, another chapter and I am not really able to give the organization as much time as I would have in the past so I kind of took a back seat and a step down and some other great volunteers have stepped up and the organization still goes on and I come back to do their food.
Tell my audience where we can go to find out more information. What is the website?
Pam: The website is LewisOliverFarm.org.
Cognac with volunteer Kelly Tenny.
The historic Lewis Oliver Farm, located in Northport Village, NY, is a cherished community landmark dating back to the 1800’s. Once a working dairy, the farm is now home to Annabelle the cow, Tiny the pig, Ezra and Onyx the alpacas and friends including goats, sheep, geese, chickens, ducks, turkeys, peacocks, bunnies and cats.
Generations of families and friends from within and around the community continue the tradition of visiting the farm where they can spend time with the animals, browse through the Lewis Oliver Country Store and enjoy this uniquely special piece of Northport’s history.
The farm was privately owned up until 2007 when it was jointly purchased by the Town of Huntington and Suffolk County as a means to preserve it. The farm is managed by the volunteer members of Friends of the Farm and through their efforts, has remained opened for all to enjoy with no admission fees of any kind.
The farm is open 365 days a year, 7 days a week from dawn to dusk. The Lewis Oliver Country Store is open from early Spring to late Fall on Saturdays and Sundays between 10am-4pm.
