Things are coming to a boil at Huble Homestead as staff prepares for the annual Potato Festival Sunday and Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The spudtacular event to celebrate the potato will see visitors able to purchase heirloom potato varieties along with other Huble garden vegetables, enjoy a lunch menu filled with tasty tubers to complement the barbecue offerings, while tater-themed games can be played by the tots.
Adults can show off their potato peeling skills in a contest and participate in heritage demonstrations.
"People like the idea of the Potato Festival," said Krystal Leason, operations manager at Huble Homestead/Giscome Portage Heritage Society. "There's a lot happening. We have potato sales and we have currently got five heirloom varieties in our garden."
There is Cariboo Blue, Cariboo Red, and the Likely potato, which is more like a fingerling.
"Someone came to the event last year and brought us some Likely potatoes and asked us to grow them and we are," said Leason.
The more intriguing of the potatoes grown at Huble is the 'outlaw' Cariboo which was developed in 1963. It did very well in the region but when the plants tangled with industrial harvesting machinery it was deemed more trouble than it was worth and banned.
"We've got the outlaw potato, which is pretty exciting," said Leason. "It was really difficult to get for many, many years and so we have some now and we're hand harvesting so it's not an issue for us."
Huble had an heirloom red last year that cross-pollinated with the Cariboo Blue and came out purple.
"So we planted those this year and it's going to be a surprise when we pull them out if they are going to be the heirloom red or if we've actually created a new variety," said Leason. "I'm really hoping that we've got our own but we'll see. If they're purple we did it and if they're red then they just went back to the normal one."
For more smashing potato fun and games there's a dress-your-spud contest with top honours going to the best dressed, most creative and crowd favourite.
"Last year someone got really creative and made a little duck, which was really cute," said Leason. "There's potato sack races and potato peeling contests - and adults have to use a knife. We do things the old fashioned way here and the kids get to use peelers."
There will be special appearances by Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, as well as musical entertainment, site tours, demonstrations including ice cream making, vinegar making, cheese making, sauerkraut making, and on Monday there will be a blacksmith on site.
Each day there's a pancake breakfast in the morning, barbecue for lunch with special potato menu and a 10 per cent sale on all items at the General Store.
"It's going to be a great windup to the summer season," said Leason.
The Huble Homestead Historic Site is located 40 kilometres north of Prince George. Travel north on Highway 97 and turn right on Mitchell Road, which is a six-km well-maintained gravel road suitable for family vehicles, RVs and buses. Admission is by suggested donation of $10 per family, $5 for adults and $3 for children and seniors.
