Extra Fair Food Will Be Donated in Rhinebeck New York

One of the most enjoyable parts about visiting our county fairs in the HudsonValley is enjoying all of the amazing food that we get to gobble up during the fair season. The Dutchess County Fair does an amazing job of not only offering the traditional fair favorites but they have local food vendors as well with their specialties.

I can still taste those Disco Fridays from Darby O'Gills from last year's fair and it is not because I had ingestion, it is because they were that good. Waffle fries covered in bacon smoothed in melted cheese and gravy. I was in a food coma after that plate which by the way was big enough to share.

Dutchess County Fair Plans to Donate Food to Feed HV and Others in New York

And speaking of sharing that is the actual reason for this article to let you know that the Dutchess County Fair has arranged with Feed HV to have excess food from the fair vendors reach out into the community and help with food insecurity in our area.

Feed HV will be coordinating with the Dutchess County Fair and Red Hook Responds to make sure that excess food gets redirected to food assistance programs at the end of fair week. The plan is to have volunteers arrive on the last day of the fair and collect from the various food vendors any viable food to get it out to the community instead of it going to waste.

This year, the Dutchess County Fair, which runs August 23-28 at the Dutchess County Fairgrounds, is offering its food vendors the opportunity to donate their remaining products and ingredients to local agencies with food assistance programs – feeding those in need in the Hudson Valley – through FeedHV. Administered by Hudson Valley AgriBusiness Development CorporaYon (HVADC), (via Dutchess COunty Fair Press Release)

Feed HV works in our region rescuing and harvesting food throughout Dutchess, Orange, Ulster, Columbia, Greene, Putnam, and Sullivan Counties. Its goal is to link donors of prepared but unserved food along with fresh produce to agencies that need it such as nonprofits and food assistant programs.

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So if you are at the fair on Sunday the 28th and you notice people stacking up and loading out food from the fairgrounds be sure to thank them for helping feed our neighbors and maybe find out how you can help too. The fair expects to have approximately 100 food vendors across the fair including the 4H, the Grange and the midway vendors.

Food Featured at the 2021 Dutchess County Fair