Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University held its annual Grape Harvest Festival on Saturday, August 22nd.
The festival is hosted by the College of Agriculture & Food Sciences and showcases the variety of grapes that are grown at the Center for Viticulture and Small Fruit.
The festival featured over 20 varieties of grapes to taste, as well as vineyard trail rides, wine tasting, a grape-stomping competition, hula hoop contests, water slides, grape picking and several food vendors.
Student volunteer Sarah Dubuisson says the festival is an outlet for people within the community to come together and meet each other.
“It’s a space built for the common interest, which is agriculture," she says. “A lot of community, a lot of things to do and people to talk to. Very wholesome, very ‘FAMUly’-like.”
Dr. Dale Wesson serves as the Dean of the College of Agriculture & Food Sciences (CAFS) and works as the director over the school’s land-grant programs. He says the harvest festival is an opportunity for the community to experience all of the research that CAFS does throughout the year.
“They can enjoy the fruits of our labor,” he says. “What I like is that it showcases the research. It showcases our faculty, it showcases our leadership in the wine industry, and it showcases Florida A&M...being a land-grant university.”
CAFS and its researchers hold 14 patents on grape varieties that they have created. Most of these grapes are of the Muscadine species, which are much larger than typical grapes. They grow in smaller clusters but can be nearly the size of a golf ball.
FAMU’s patented grapes are resistant to mold, diseases and some local insects. Many of these varieties are sold to vineyards in Texas, as the growing conditions are similar enough that they thrive there.
“We put the ‘A’ in FAMU,” says Dean Wesson. “This is a celebration of our Muscadine grapes and a celebration of the Viticulture Center."
