The fifth Howard County Farm-City celebration includes opportunities to pick pumpkins, pet animals and peer at farm equipment, all intended to give city dwellers a way to better understand farm life.
"It's about educating the public about the importance of farms to their lives, to their health and to the environment," said Kathy Zimmerman, agricultural marketing specialist for the Howard County Economic Development Authority. "We want people to see the importance of having farms in the community."
On-farm activities, library story times, farmers' markets and other events are scheduled every day through Saturday.
Today, live demonstrations and hands-on activities highlight farming's past at the Howard County Living Farm Heritage Museum in West Friendship. Fall festivities are planned at Clark's Elioak Farm in Ellicott City and at Sharp's at Waterford Farm in Brookeville.
Next weekend will include an open house at the Central Maryland Research and Education Center farm in Clarksville, the Iron Bridge Hounds ride through Sharp's farm, and a fall festival at the Howard County Conservancy in Woodstock.
Fall activities will also take place Saturday at Triadelphia Lake View Farm in Glenelg in addition to continued activities at Clark's and Sharp's.
While suburbs have replaced farmland throughout the county, agriculture remains an important local industry. Farms generate more than $20 million in sales each year, according to the last USDA Census in 2002. The department counted 346 farms in the county covering 37,582 acres.
Many of those farms now focus on equine operations, horticulture and landscaping materials, and agritourism activities. Direct marketing to local customers is an important strategy for getting the most income out of products while land values are soaring.
In 2004, a committee of farmers, businesses and government agencies decided that a good way to build an appreciation for local farms - and a market for local products - was to get people to go out and spend some time on the farms. The Farm-City Celebration has expanded from a week to 12 days, and Zimmerman said that an estimated 20,000 people took part in celebration activities last year.
"We are getting more and more notoriety, greater attendance, and as far as education, more folks are tuning into the purpose," said John Frank, president of the Howard County Antique Farm Machinery Club, which runs the farm heritage museum, and a co-chairman of the celebration.
