Live music filled the air as hundreds of students from colleges across campus outlined the Green Space Thursday to visit booths as they waited in line for a taste of Auburn grown and raised food at Farmfest, an agricultural event sponsored by UPC and the College of Agriculture School’s Council for Ag Week.
The attraction that drew the most crowds at Farmfest was the petting zoo. Students signed a short waiver and off they went to pet each of the different types of animals present at the event.
“Each club was assigned a certain booth,” said Jordan Farrell, senior in animal science and president of Block and Bridle. “Block and Bridle is in charge of the petting zoo. All these animals come from either the vet school, the beef unit or the horse unit on campus, and so they are all University-owned animals.”
Farrell stood in the alpacas’ pen to ensure the animals didn’t act out against any students. Block and Bridle brought several animals to Farmfest including sheep, cows, alpacas and a horse.
Farrell had a special connection with one of the petting zoo animals, a beef heifer named Stella. He raised her and then showed her in a livestock show put on at Auburn University last year.
“She loves people,” Farrell said. “If you stop petting her she will go crazy and, she loves to be petted.”
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Getting the animals to the Green Space was the easy part, Farrell said. Members of the Block and Bridle club loaded them into trailers, but getting the animals from the trailers to their pens on the Green Space was the challenging part.
The Block and Bridle club managed and was ready to go when the event began at 11 a.m. along with the rest of the booths at the event.
Each booth was owned by a club from the College of Agriculture or an agriculture business. Booths were spread around the Green Space in a large U shape with students outlining them as they waited in line to taste the food provided by Cattlemen and Cattlewomen, Tiger Dining and the Food Services Club.
The line never seemed to shorten as students continued to funnel into the line after they visited the petting zoo. The turnout was far greater than any of the agriculture students involved expected because, with over an hour left in the event, booths were beginning to run out of food.
“We have a lot of connections within the College of Agriculture,” said Caleb Hicks, senior in agricultural communications and School Council's vice president for the College of Agriculture. “Our theme for Ag Week, which is currently happening this week, is ‘connect.’ So, we wanted to do an event that would connect with the rest of campus, and that way we can connect with students who may not know a lot about agriculture.”
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