The Celebrate Rural Montgomery Fall Festival, originally scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 8, has been rescheduled because of rain for Sunday, Oct. 30 from 2 to 5:30 p.m.
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Fall on the Farm
At Clark's Elioak Farm in Ellicott City, Janelle Chapham, 4, has the goats eating out of her hands. Besides animals, the farm features pieces from the old Enchanted Forest theme park.
(Mark Finkenstaedt)
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Indeed, as son Lucas drives toward the interplanetary craft, out pop green-masked, shiny-costumed aliens, who not only dance but also turn cartwheels while high-pitched recorded voices sing a song to the tune of the "Star Wars" theme.
Cox employees chosen to don the alien attire are "the goofiest, most outgoing and most enthusiastic -- it's kind of a coveted position," Lucas says later. A recent Iowa State University horticulture graduate, he's in charge of training the hayride drivers.
"I never thought working with my family would be this much fun," he says with a big grin.
COX FARMS -- 15621 Braddock Rd., at Pleasant Valley and Braddock roads, midway between Routes 29 and 50, about five miles west of Centreville. 703-830-4121.http:/
Give That Pig a Kiss
The barnyard menagerie at Great Country Farms boasts some mighty offbeat critters: a smooching pig, racing pigs, a talking rooster and a pumpkin-munching dinosaur.
"Paloma, our kissing pig!" Kate Zurschmeide says by way of introduction, noting that folks sometimes don wax lips so they can give the friendly porker smooches. Zurschmeide is leading the way to the Oinkintucky Derby, one of the most popular events during the Fall Pumpkin Harvest Fest at the Bluemont farm nestled at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains. At the tiny, fenced-in track, Zurschmeide's sister-in-law Debbie Schoeb, donning a rubber pig nose, has just started her announcer shtick for the gathering crowd.
"The only way we can get these pigs around the track is to do two things," she shouts. First, the audience has to yell, as loudly as possible, "SuuuuuuEEE!" Second, the pigs need to see that after they finish, they'll receive a special treat: Oreo cookies.
Zurschmeide and husband Mark -- Great Country partners with Mark's sister, Schoeb, and brother, Bruce Zurschmeide -- got the pig racing idea at a farming conference, also a source of inspiration for the farm's newest addition: Brewster the Talking Rooster. The lifelike bird sits on a countertop and moves his head, opens and closes his beak, and blinks his eyes, then surprises passersby by carrying on a conversation. Standing inconspicuously several feet away, Schoeb provides Brewster's voice and chats up a gathering crowd.
Schoeb also emcees shows featuring the farm's biggest critter, P-Rex, a mechanical dinosaur created by an artist friend. The creature's jaws chomp pumpkins into a gloppy mess, which can be removed only by dino-flossing.
"Our mission, our goal here, is to have families come out," Schoeb says. "That's what we're really about: making a memory for everybody."
GREAT COUNTRY FARMS -- 18780 Foggy Bottom Rd., Bluemont. 540-554-2073.http:/
Terror in Apple Country
Name your deepest fear, and Vernon Wright, mastermind behind "Haunted Nightmares," most likely has it covered.
