3 Annual Festivals On Sunny Slope Farm

people gather at festival on sunny slope farm

Since 2016 we have hosted festivals at our wedding venue.

Food Truck Fest

In 2016, we helped to establish the Open Doors Food Truck Festival. We hosted this festival until 2020, raising nearly $200,000 for Valley Open Doors.

In 2017, we added our second annual festival at our wedding and party venue. The Wine and Oyster festival supported the Artisans Center of Virginia and the Virginia Oyster Trail. We continued this festival until 2020 as well.

Spirit of the Valley Festival

In 2018, we began to host our third annual festival. The Spirit of the Valley Festival supported The Heritage Museum and The Farm Museum of the Shenandoah Valley. We have only hosted this festival once.

The future of festivals On Sunny Slope Farm

With all the changes in the last two years, we are uncertain about when or even if we will continue to host large festivals at our venue. We have enjoyed all the planning and playing that goes along with these festivals. In addition, it has been very fulfilling to be able to support these nonprofit organizations. For now, we will be considering a smaller option.

Chill on the Hill

“Chill on the hill” we be our new, small-scale, invitation-only, collaborative, community-minded gathering. We will plan these gatherings for Sunday evenings and Mondays on a holiday weekend. So, we are talking about May 30, 2022 – Memorial Day, July 3-4, 2022 – Independence Day weekend, September 4-5, 2022 – Labor Day weekend, and October 30-31, 2022 – Halloween weekend.

NEW? We never really did this before. I think this will be unique, novel, original, innovative, unusual, and fun! So we will see how it goes.

SMALL SCALE? No more than 250 people will be allowed to attend. Limiting the number of people attending may sound elitist. But it is more about creating more intimate, community-building times to get to know other people.

INVITATION-ONLY? That’s right. You will need an invitation to be able to attend. So that means we will not be marketing these gatherings. We will not be selling tickets. You will need an invitation. Invitations will come from two people.
1. I invite you. i.e., Harry Jarrett, Jr., owner and operator of On Sunny Slope Farm.
2. Or, someone that I invite invites you.

COLLABORATIVE? The “Chill on the Hill” parties will be a BYOE (Bring your everything) get-together. This gathering is a family-style potluck, picnic, let’s meet on a farm in a field under a tent kind of thing. Chances are I will be providing some fun surprises, but those invited will need to bring their necessary food and beverages if they plan on eating and drinking.

COMMUNITY-MINDED? I have enjoyed raising money for nonprofits in the past. In this new endeavor, I will choose one nonprofit as a beneficiary. I will be donating some money to an organization after each “Chill on the Hill” event. I am going to ask everyone invited to do the same thing. A donation to the organization will not be a requirement to attend, but I think it would be nice if you would.