It’s almost time to reap the harvest — SomerHarvest, that is. Tickets are currently on sale for this year’s SomerHarvest event, an annual farm-to-table meal held in downtown Somerset by the non-profit Somerset Junior Woman’s Club (SJWC). This year’s event will be held on Thursday, September 5 at 6:30 p.
m., at its usual home on the Judicial Center Plaza. In its earliest incarnations, the meal took place at one long table down East Mt.
Vernon Street, but breaking it up into several tables — still of substantial length — on the plaza has proven to be beneficial for the organizers and still allows a sense of community coming together to break bread — literally and figuratively. That can be an important thing in a time when people are divided and often too on the go to really enjoy a meal with good company the old-fashioned way. “It will be a nice time for everyone to be together for the common goal of enjoying a good dinner,” said SJWC organizer Wynona Padgett.
“I think we’re either stuck going through fast-food drive-thrus all the time because of our busy lives, or it’s just sometimes the two, three, four people (in a) family that have dinner together every evening. This kind of gives everyone that opportunity to sit down with other people they may or may not know and just be happy.” Cost of tickets is $50, and only 100 will be sold.
Proceeds benefit the various local causes of the SJWC, as well as Somerset Community College scholarship opportunities. Tickets can be purchased at www.ticketleap.
com ( https://tinyurl.com/3wbsnw6n ) — just go to the website and do a search for “SomerHarvest” or follow the link included in this article — or can do so via PayPal with a message saying what the payment is for, to [email protected] .
Presentation is always a key part of the SomerHarvest atmosphere, and this year, Padgett said they’re returning to using real cloth napkins and non-disposable plates for the dinner, “so we’re excited about how pretty the tables will be.” Some disposable plates may be still used for salad and dessert, but the club is breaking out the good dinnerware for SomerHarvest this time. Local ensemble Pleasant Company will be providing music to fit the mood, and a caricature artist, Rob Maystead, will be on hand to do drawings of anyone who wants one, included in the ticket price.
Food will be prepared by Darlene Newell; the menu will feature mini-country ham biscuits as appetizers, with ham cured by a local 4-H student. The main course will include roast beef and chicken, and sides will be roasted potatoes; green beans; and a cucumber, tomato and onion mix. There will also be a salad with fresh lettuce from Casey County farms and fresh strawberries from Bosch Berries.
“It’s an odd time of the year to have fresh strawberries, but we’re going to have them,” said Padgett. “Those strawberries will also come in handy with our dessert because we’re going to have individual strawberry shortcakes, and there will be another dessert as well.” There will also be individual ice cream treats from Prairie Farms Dairy.
A number of local sources are providing the food that will be eaten at the meal, including Burnett Farms vegetables, proteins from Summit Meats, and additional items from Cat Hollow Farm in Liberty, Ky., and rolls from Amon’s Bakery. To drink, Baxter’s Coffee and iced tea will be available.
In addition to the meal, a number of arts and crafts vendors will be set up around the plaza on the other side of the fountain — that aspect will be open to the public, though a ticket is required to eat dinner. If you want to eat, buy tickets early, because Padgett doesn’t anticipate having any available by the day of the event. There will also be antique tractors on display to add to the agricultural feel, and a special treat for guests at each place setting.
The Don Franklin Somerset Family of Dealerships is the title sponsor for the event. For more information, visit “SomerHarvest: A Farm-to-Table Celebration” 2024 on Facebook. “Because it is a communal dinner, outside, hopefully with beautiful weather, it has just such a comfortable, almost nostalgic feeling,” said Padgett.
“It’s not loud, it’s not flashy. It’s just a nice, sit-down dinner with (both) people you know and will meet that night.”.
