Rains heighten pickings at Blues Berry Bash

By SEAN BARRON

news@vindy.com

CANFIELD

On Skyler Graham’s shirt in large, ominous letters was the word “nightmare,” but it certainly didn’t come close to describing what he was going through.

“I never picked blueberries,” the Seaborn Elementary School first-grader said.

It might be challenging to take the 6-year-old boy’s assessment of himself as a novice at face value, though, because he was having an enjoyable time meticulously filling his bucket with the fruit, courtesy of having been at the fourth annual Blues Berry Bash festival Saturday afternoon at White House Fruit Farm at 9249 Youngstown-Salem Road (U.S. Route 62).

The two-day free, family-oriented event continues from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.

Not to be outdone, 2-year-old Parker Shook of North Jackson tried to exercise a bit of self-discipline by filling his bucket with blueberries from the vines while simultaneously resisting the natural urge to eat them.

“We’re doing pretty good. At first, he was eating a lot of them. He loves blueberries, so I said, ‘Let’s do it,’” Parker’s mother, Jamie Williams explained, referring to her decision to come to the funfest.

A similar story could be told about Sara Bauland of Austintown and her 1-year-old daughter, Anna, who didn’t allow temperatures in the high 80s and high humidity slow their efforts to add as many blueberries as they could to their buckets.

“I’m getting as many blueberries as possible to make jam to give away to

friends and family,” Sara explained.

Driving to the fruit farm is nothing new for her, in part because she also has been to the business’s yearly strawberry festival, said Sara, who added that she also sells a variety of jams she makes as a side business.

The event’s main attraction can be found in a few dozen rows of bushes under a large area of netting off the main exit.

White House grows about 5 acres of blueberries, which customers pick themselves at $3.10 a pound, noted Debbie Pifer, the business’s owner.

The gathering comes shortly after the peak growing time for blueberries, which is the first half of July. This spring and summer’s excessive rainfall may have caused flooding and other headaches for many Mahoning Valley residents, but it also has meant larger and more robust blueberries and raspberries, Pifer pointed out.

“They’ve handled it well,” she said.

Many patrons did their best to handle Saturday’s oppressive weather conditions partly by sitting on benches and lawn chairs in a shady spot to listen to the acoustic guitar work and vocals of Steve “Honey Boy” Vuich.

Others opted to beat the heat by spending time inside White House’s store, buying its

homemade jams, jellies, preserves, produce, donuts and more.

Those weren’t the only ways to stay cool, however. The fest also is offering a wide variety of blueberry-themed treats that include slushes, ice cream. ice cream sandwiches, milk, soda and screamers – slushes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in a cup, in addition to angel food cake, pies, cheesecake and muffin bread, as well as White House’s well-known doughnuts.

In addition, the fruit farm’s Budgie Bird Barn, a small indoor sanctuary for a wide array of birds, will be open today. Cost is $2 per person.

Today’s entertainment will consist of Major Morgan from noon to 2 p.m., followed by the Gordon James Blues Band, which will play from 2 to 4 p.m.