Less than a festival but more than an ordinary day!

Fifth Annual Okra Occasion Winners

The City of New Port Richey’s Environmental Committee and New Port Richey FarmNet held its fifth annual “Okra Occasion…Less than a festival but more than an ordinary day!” at the New Port Richey Public Library in downtown New Port Richey in early August.

Friendship Farms & Fare, FarmNet, and the gardeners from the Grand Gardens joined other growers and citizens to share the magic of okra – one of Florida’s forgotten vegetable treasures. Samples of okra dishes including shrimp gumbo and Brunswick stew were enjoyed by attendees while watching two short films on urban farming. A brief presentation on New Port Richey’ FarmNet will be included on the program.
 
The event also included prizes for the best okra dishes.  Prizes awareded to three local cooks for first, second and third place, each including a cash award. The winners were Constance Cranford, Audrey Voss, and Renee Mercedes.

Assisting at the fifth annual Okra Occasion were members of the City’s Environmental Committee.  It has been through the efforts of this committee that New Port Richey has a progressive agricultural program allowing for residential farms and gardens and micro-urban farms such as those in the East Madison Neighborhood and the city’s Agricultural District in the Western portion of Virginia Avenue. The Environmental Committee has discovered many residents in the city would like to grow their own organic vegetables.

The Okra Occasion is one of the four major seasonal agrarian celebrations in New Port Richey.  The others are: The Sweet Potato Round-Up (September 28, 2019), The Collards Festival & Winter Greens Expo (January 25, 2020), and The Florida Loquat Festival (March 21, 2020) – the only Loquat Festival in America. The mission of New Port Richey FarmNet is to quicken the rise of a resilient and sustainable community in the City of New Port Richey and surrounding areas on the basis of agrarian principles and practices, and a commitment to food sovereignty.