April
17 - 26th, 2009
The Graham Johnson Cultural Arts Endowment is proud to present the 10th Annual Wake Forest HerbFest! This
popular annual event has been offering attendees the greatest selection of herb plants and perennials in one place for the
last nine years. In 2008, this downtown Wake Forest event expanded from a 3 day festival to a 10 day affair, bringing nearly
20,000 people to historic downtown Wake Forest during the 10 days of the festival.
All the herb plants are certified organic,
as are this year’s expanded selection of organic vegetable plants including tomatoes, squash and peppers. The HerbFest
Duck Parade is featured daily and draws families to the event again and again. Herb plants are grown in the Circle of Life
disposable pots that are made from rice hulls so will naturally decompose over time and not add more plastic to the local
landfill.
The extended schedule allows founder Bob Johnson to educate local elementary school students via scheduled field trips and
hands on learning that includes a tasting of rosemary lemonade and learning how to make a natural flea repellent for the family
dog. This year Johnson wants to focus on teaching the kids where food comes from. “I think it is important to emphasize
to young children that their food is grown in the ground in gardens and on farms and doesn’t come from a box or a freezer,”
states Johnson. Johnson feels planting a garden is a great family experience and allows families to bond while also learning
together about gardening, cooking, and proper nutrition, making the HerbFest “the perfect opportunity to kick
off the gardening season and learning together some new recipes and tips for making their herb gardens a success,” he
notes.
Johnson can be found each year at all 10 days of the festival wearing his wide brimmed and well worn gardening hat, always
willing to take time to share the joys of herbs with visitors to the event. He especially loves giving themed herb garden
ideas to families starting their first herb garden as well as sharing his vast knowledge of herb plants and fun historical
uses and stories of the plants, such as the fact that Lambs Ear was used as the first toilet paper in colonial times. Planted
along the walkway the silvery leaves helped reflect the moonlight on a night trip to the outhouse, and then served as the
toilet paper for the visitor. Today Lambs Ear is a beautiful plant in the landscape even if you don’t have an outhouse
with it’s beautiful furry silver leaves adding texture to the garden and the late summer flower spikes attracting beneficial
butterflies and bees, not to mention the fun conversations it can start!
Other activities planned for this year’s event include
classes, workshops and demonstrations including; Making a terrarium, Oriental Medicine, Garden Feng Shui, and Conservation,
Composting & Recycling. Special guests include Dr. Milton Ganyard presenting on No Till Gardening, Dr. Bill Dupont on
Wildlife and Gardening, and Dr. Marilyn Grolitzer on Aquatic Plants for Garden Ponds. For a full schedule of classes
& entertainment please visit www.herbfest.net On both weekends there is free entertainment and a variety of craft vendors to shop with that sell a variety of herbal and
home and gardening products such as herbal soaps and body products, garden chimes, pottery and garden and herbal crafts.
Proceeds from the event support the Graham Johnson Cultural Arts Endowment which promotes arts programming in schools and
communities. HerbFest's goal is to contribute minimum $10,000 to the GJCAE.
