HemlockFest Also Supports American Chestnut Restoration

Published November 18, 2019

GA-TACF President Kathy Patrick poses by the chapter’s American chestnut booth.

The 2019 HemlockFest (November 1-3) was a huge success for everyone involved! The event is a three-day outdoor music festival organized by the Lumpkin Coalition that includes camping and fun for all ages. For the past 15 years, attendees have enjoyed great music, arts and crafts, food and drink from local vendors, and various exhibits and environmental education events. Proceeds are split between several labs in Georgia working on biocontrol of the hemlock woolly adelgid and the GA-TACF Chapter!  In the last three years alone, HemlockFest funds allocated to the GA-TACF Chapter have totaled $45,000!

Chapter volunteers staff an American chestnut educational display booth,  and for the past several years have helped with site setup and breakdown, as well as operating the ticketing booth. This year, volunteers included Kathy Patrick, Martin Cipollini, Jack Rogers (also a Lumpkin Coalition board member), Steve Barber, Emily Elrod, and Ana Metaxas. Despite heavy rains in the week leading up to this year’s event, participants enjoyed three days of fabulous, crisp fall weather making it one of the most enjoyable events in recent years. In addition to a variety of live music, activities included canoeing, tree climbing, atlatl dart throwing, guided nature hikes, costume contests, morning yoga, a lantern parade and burning of the adelgid effigy, and shadow dancing.

The Lumpkin Coalition is a small group of local citizens who plan and carry out this event every year with an all-volunteer force. It is a remarkable feat for this hardy and dedicated group. To sustain this event in the future, the coalition is seeking new leaders to help with planning, marketing, logistics, and other matters necessary to pulling it off successfully. If you are interested in helping in any way, please email the GA-TACF Chapter.  Even if you can’t volunteer, come and enjoy future “HemlockFestivities,” while supporting two great “tree” causes. For more information about the festival, visit  http://hemlockfest.org/blog

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2005
Sara Fern Fitzsimmons with Jim Gage, Dr Phil Arnold, & Dr Robert Gregg

2006, Sara Fitzsimmons pollinates at Stockers

2006
Sara pollinating at Stockers, PA

Sara rating cankers at Thorpewood

Sara rating cankers at Thorpewood, MD

Sara at the 25th Annual TACF meeting

2008
Sara at the 25th Annual TACF Meeting

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2009
Sara in the PSU Graves Orchard

Sara Fern Fitzsimmons in the Glenn Swank stump, 2009

2009
Sara in the Glenn Swank stump, PA

Sara at the International Chestnut Symposium, 2012

2012
Sara at the International Chestnut Symposium

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2014
Sara with Harmony Dalgleish and the Berlin American chestnut in Vermont

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Sara and Kendra Collins working in the field

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2022
Sara presenting at TACF’s Spring Meeting

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2023
Sara (in the rocker) with TACF staff at the Fall Meeting

Sara Fern Fitzsimmons

2024
Sara in the Penn State greenhouses