10th Annual Wake Forest HerbFest Family Fun Festival - Organic Herbs, Vegetables, Free Seminars, Free Entertainment, Herbal Inspired Foods

Wake Forest, NC (PRWEB) March 23, 2009 -- The Graham Johnson Cultural Arts Endowment is proud to present the 10th Annual Wake Forest HerbFest http://www.herbfest.net. 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 http://tr.im/prweb. 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 that promotes arts programming in schools and communities. http://www.GJCAE.org

For more information regarding this release please contact:

Elizabeth Johnson via email at: ejohnson(at)medfaxxinc.com or by phone at 919-306-3857 for interviews

Graham Johnson Cultural Arts Endowment - http://www.GJCAE.org

P.O. Box 1289 Wake Forest, NC 27588

http://www.herbfest.net

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