Have you hugged a farmer lately?

Quincy event appreciates city's ag base

QUINCY — Beneath the dancing horses and the spinning farm machinery lurked community spirit.

Quincy residents turned out for the 26th annual Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day parade Saturday morning, lining Central Avenue and adjacent neighborhoods.

Parade entries ranged from community organizations to politicians up for election, and one of the newest additions, a number of horses danced to the music provided by an elegantly dressed band, advertising for one of the area restaurants.

"We've got a lot of kids in it, so we just want to support our community and support our schools, and all that," said Quincy High School Principal Chris McKnight, estimating it was his 11th time at the parade. "It's a fun time for everyone here in Quincy. It's just a good time to bring the family out."

Veronica Cruz and her family were out supporting her place of employment, the Quincy hospital.

"Just to support everybody and see the stuff that comes around," Cruz replied when asked what keeps her coming back.

"We come to it every year," said Darryl Tucker, sitting by wife Shirley. The Tuckers have been coming for about 10 years, he estimated, indicating with a point of the finger that attendance this year was for their young daughter, who was standing at the edge of the Central Avenue sidewalk, watching as the parade marched by.

This was the first time for Rich and Pat Meagher, who moved to Quincy from the Wenatchee area almost a year ago. Prior to that, they had lived in Seattle.

"It's been really fantastic," Rich Meagher said. "You just see a lot going on, the growing and everything else. It's been very interesting for me. Being from the city, you don't see that much of it."

Pat Meagher said the couple was anticipating going on several of the potato tours later in the day, to see the area and the various crops being offered during the day-long event.

Samantha Stacy was there to watch her brother drive their father's semi-truck in the parade for the junior high pep club. She has been to the event just about every year that she can remember.

"You can recognize a lot of faces in the parade and it's just fun," she said.

"Oh, you can't miss it," said Michelle Horodowicz, singling out the parade as her favorite part of the event. "You have to be part of the community. It's part of the community, and you can't miss that."

While Quincy has an agricultural base, Horodowicz doesn't think people fully realize the impact farmers have.

"That's why I like Farmer-Consumer Day, because it makes people realize, 'Oh, the farmers, they do a lot, they're a big part,'" she said. "That's part of what keeps our community going."

Ann Downs said the smaller communities might recognize the importance of the farmer, but the bigger communities could stand to learn the lesson.

The Quincy event originated because of a Paul Harvey broadcast almost 30 years ago, in which two of the radio announcer's guests opined that there was no need for farmers when people could buy their food from the grocery stores.

In the spirit of the day, and proving those long-ago guests wrong, several of the people in attendance said they recently appreciated a farmer.

"I just spent a lot of money at the produce sale," Horodowicz said. "I look forward to that every year."

McKnight said he is very involved with FFA and purchases a lot of produce locally.

"I think it would be nicer to see them recognized a little bit more, definitely, because the food supply and produce is huge out of this area," he said. "I don't think people realize how big the produce is coming out of here, how much we ship out of here. It's tremendous, it's number one, so it's great to see, but I think more people need to know about it."

"I have a lot of farmers that come into my business," Shirley Tucker said. "Coffee drinkers, harvest, we share the wealth."

"We're a farm family, so basically every day," Stacy said with a laugh of how often she shows her appreciation. "Every time my husband goes to work, I am appreciating the farm."