17th annual Farmland Preservation Festival set for April 12

From left, Jaxon Miller, Dade Markham and Raelyn Hoffman play in a large bin of corn during the 14th annual Marion County Farmland Preservation Festival on April 9, 2022. This year’s event is April 12. [File photo by Bruce Ackerman]

The 17th annual Farmland Preservation Festival will take place April 12 at the Stirrups ‘n Strides Therapeutic Riding Center at 4246 W Highway 318, between Orange Lake and Citra.

The event is organized by the nonprofit Save Our Rural Areas group, or SORA. It will run from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. It will include family-friendly fun, cottage and traditional farm crafts, farm animals, tractors and farm equipment, food vendors, live music and plants for sale.

“SORA has organized the annual festival each year since 2006. SORA is a 501(c)(3) organization that is concerned about the future of Marion County’s farmland and its future land uses. April is proclaimed Farmland Preservation Month by the Marion County Board of County Commissioners and is the reason for the festival being held in April,” said Jerome Feaster, the longtime lead organizer of the event.

The festival may hold particular relevance this year as there currently are bills in the Senate and House that would wrest local control of development from cities and counties across the state and open up agricultural areas to developers without review from local governments. If passed, the new laws would supersede any local overlay zones of protection, including Marion County’s revered Farmland Preservation Area.

The bills were filed by State Sen. Stan McClain, R-Marion, and Rep. Kevin Steele, R-Pasco. The bills propose no restrictions on minimum lot size and assume that maximum densities per any current land development code would be automatically put into effect. The city of Ocala and the Marion County Board of County Commissioners would lose their authority to restrict the number of units per acre in a housing project. (ocalagazette.com/florida-legislature-bills-would-likely-remove-fpa-protections-in-marion-county)

“The current Senate Bill 1118 and its companion bill in the House are bad in that it strips the power of home rule from the county level and gives it to the state. Local land use has traditionally been decided by local elected officials with input from citizens and not by decree from a distant bureaucracy. This lessens input from citizens groups and is the antithesis of democracy. For this reason, Save Our Rural Areas stands in opposition to this and similar bills,” said SORA President Tim Gant via email.

Admission to the Farmland Preservation Festival is free but there is a $5 charge for parking, which will give the paying guest a raffle ticket they can take to the SORA booth for a chance on a selection of items.

“The Stirrups ‘n Strides Therapeutic Riding Center will provide a covered arena for many arts and crafts vendors as well other nonprofit groups. There will be a shady ‘fun for kids’ area that will have farm animals, a corn tub to play in and a trailer slide. There also will be a corn hole game, a stick horse obstacle course and barrel races. On the food menu this year will be barbecue, pizza and ice cream. Visitors can sit at picnic tables to eat as they listen to Americana and fiddle music,” Feaster shared.

“Unfortunately, there will not be a tractor parade this year,” he added.

“It is an honor to host this festival that wants to help people to keep their farms,” said Betty Gray, executive director of Stirrups ‘n Strides.

“Please, everyone, come out and visit our vendors. We will have lots of animals, lots of good food and lots of things going on. Stirrups ‘n Strides will be having a tack sale for those who have horses.

To learn more about the event, go to farmlandfestival.org
For information about Stirrups ‘n Strides, go to stirrupsnstrides.com
For the status of SB 1118 and other bills, go to flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2025/1118/

Dave Guynn, left, and Rodney Guynn, who are first cousins of Tom Petty, perform during the Farmland Preservation Festival on April 8, 2023. [File photo by Bruce Ackerman]