A selection of holiday and farm-related items for sale this holiday season at the Frying Pan Farm Park General Store. Photo by Alex McVeigh.
The historic Frying Pan Farm Park will host several of its signature events this holiday season, allowing anyone with an appreciation for history, agriculture and the outdoors to shop for gifts and attend several different presentations.
“From Halloween through Christmas, Frying Pan Farm Park is one of our family’s favorite destinations on an almost weekly basis,” said Debbie Santiago of Herndon. “Something about the idea of cold weather, outdoor fires is just a perfect combination.”
Once at the heart of Fairfax County’s booming dairy industry, Frying Pan Farm Park now preserves and interprets life on a farm between 1920 and the 1950s. Featuring a farmhouse and several barns, the park takes advantage of all their facilities during their holiday celebrations.
On Saturday, Dec. 1 the farm will host their Old-Fashioned Holiday Celebration, a day of holiday cheer and demonstrations of the daily functions of a farm.
A local beekeeper and blacksmith will give demonstrations of their trade throughout the day and the farmhouse will be decorated and open for tours.
“It’s fun for the kids to interact with the animals they have here, but the demonstrations are such a valuable educational tool,” said Tom Jennings of Herndon. “The skill and determination to make things like metal or fabric is a great example for the younger generation about how things in their everyday life were made for hundreds of years.”
One of the most popular events during the celebration is the children’s holiday shopping at the farm’s general store. Farm staff will help children find presents for everyone on their list and keeping them under budget.
The store features a variety of toys, books, tools and more. Wool from the farm’s sheep and honey from the farm’s bees, as well as meal from nearby Colvin Run Mill are also available.
“They do a good job of stocking the general store with gifts that kids can pick up that are actually educational or useful around the house,” said Katie Bennett of Herndon. “Last year, my son got my husband a book about the history and methods of local gardening, and it was a hit. We all learned a lot from it.”
Frying Pan Farm Park’s Old-Fashioned Holiday Celebration will take place Saturday, Dec. 1, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free, but some activities have fees.
More information is available at http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/parks/fryingpanpark/classes.htm.