Corrales Harvest Festival and Heritage Day

Plan to attend the Corrales Heritage Day and Corrales Harvest Festival at the historic Casa San Ysidro Church in Corrales, NM. The SCMG give the kids new world seeds (corn, beans, sunflowers, marigolds, etc.) for the celebration. The children plant the seeds in little 4-pack plastic seedling starter packs. They take them home in a plastic bag that the SCMG explain is a mini-greenhouse; included is some written material on how seeds grow. The location is at Casa San Ysidro (a branch of the Albuquerque Museum) on Old Church Road across the street from the Old Historic Church in Corrales.

The Corrales Harvest Festival is an annual two day event showcasing agriculture, merchants, artwork, performing arts and historic culture in the Village of Corrales. In 2010, the Corrales Harvest Festival will be held Saturday and Sunday, September 25-26.

Corrales Heritage Day is a spring celebration of the village's history. This celebration is held at the Old San Ysidro Church and at Casa San Ysidro in the village's old plaza on Old Church Road. The event is usually scheduled for the Saturday before the Sunday in mid-May when a special outdoor mass is performed outside the Old Church to honor Corrales' patron saint San Ysidro.

The Sandoval County Master Gardeners sponsor an information booth inside the courtyard of Casa San Ysidro during both events. Volunteers answer gardening questions and distribute a variety of brochures and flyers. During Harvest Festival, volunteers offer children seed packets and planting instructions to help spark an interest in gardening at an early age.

During the 2009 Harvest Festival, Master Gardener volunteers provided samples of the heirloom peaches grown within the walls of Casa San Ysidro and offered the children peach pits to start their own trees.

Volunteer Opportunities:
1. Copy planting instructions and other materials to be distributed during these events
2. Help assemble growing kits
3. Volunteer at the booth to answer gardening questions and distribute brochures and fliers. Volunteers generally work two hour shifts

Protocol:
1. The day before the event, pick up a banner, sign-up sheets, a table, a canopy and hand-outs at the Sandoval County Extension Office. Also bring rocks to hold down the piles of brochures. It can get windy during these events.
2. Call volunteers who have signed up to help with the event and recruit volunteers to assemble seed packets. Also recruit 3-4 volunteers to help with each 2 hour shift during the event.
3. Arrive at Casa San Ysidro at least 30 minutes before the museum opens to allow adequate time for set-up.
4. Make sure that volunteers as well as clients sign in on the sign-up sheet.
5. If a client has a question or requests further information, get their name, address and telephone number so you can send them the requested information from the Extension Office or call them after further research has been done.
6. For two day events like the Harvest Festival, clean up the area and store brochures at the end of the day. It is also a good idea to lower the canopy to reduce the possibility of wind damage.
7. The Monday following each event, give the Extension Office Secretary the volunteer and client sign-up sheets. Also return the table, banner, canopy and excess handouts to the Extension Office
8. Present the protocol during the MG training class. Sign up volunteers on the last day of class.