Ontario Orchards held their 15th annual Fall Jamboree festival Sept. 21-22 in Sterling, New York, which provided fun for the community.

Community member Charles Itzin has been attending the festival since its first year. Itzin sets up a table with the Sterling Nature Center selling hamburgers, hot dogs, chips and refreshments. Last year, The Sterling Nature Center raised more than $4,000.

 “We hope to raise even more this year,” Itzin said.

Oswego State students Samantha Rogers and Emma Carey also attended the Fall Jamboree for the first time on Saturday.

“Now that we are sophomores, we know more about what’s going on around in town,” Carey said. “I always hear about people going to the jamboree so we decided to go on Saturday and it was so much fun, we’re definitely going to go again next year.”

The Fall Jamboree is a free admission and free parking event where families of the community and Oswego State students come out to Ontario Orchards to celebrate the coming of fall with games, food, music and crafts.

The idea for the Jamboree started 15 years ago when managers, and sisters, Kathy and Laurie Ouellette used to help set up at the Pumpkin Festival in downtown Oswego. Setting up for this event inspired them to start an event of their own.

“We came home from that and thought, ‘Why don’t we have our own festival in Sterling where we grew up?’,” Kathy Ouellette said. “We wanted to invite families to the farm to see what we grew up with, apple picking, riding horses, running through the corn mazes, obstacle courses and fun things like that.”

The pair began to create the  event by finding new and fun games, searching for natural talent in the area, and asking around to get people to work with them to create the ultimate festival for the community.

In order to ensure the event is successful every year, preparations have to start early.  

“A lot goes into organizing an event,” Kathy Ouellette said. “You need to pay attention to detail in order to make things run as smooth as possible.”

Ontario Orchards gets the word out for their festival starting in July by using social media.

“We start working on the jamboree every July by sending out applications, working on new ideas, creating our commercial for TV, radio, print and social media,” Kathy Ouellette said.

The jamboree continues to grow every year. Ontario Orchards makes the field bigger for the event by pushing out a few more apple trees to allow more room for people.

“It’s been very exciting watching this event grow with the help from our locals and their families and friends,” Kathy Ouellette said.

The jamboree not only helps with profits, but also brings people out to the farm so they can see the whole operation and learn where their food comes from.  

“We want to educate people in knowing where their food comes from- a working farm right here in Sterling, New York,” Kathy Ouellette said.

Ontario Orchards is a family run and owned farm and market that has been in business for more than 50 years. Ontario Orchards provides activities and food for all four seasons of the year. The Cider Mill, Bakery, Nursery and Greenhouse provide a complete selection of products 12 months per year. Ontario Orchards has expanded agri-tourism which includes U-Pick Apples, U-Pick Pumpkins and U-Cut Christmas Trees.