NORWICH – The Chenango County Historical Society (CCHS) is proud to announce that The Loomis Barn, home of the Bob Marshman Agriculture Education Center, will again be part of this year’s Open Farm Day at the CCHS museum on 45 Rexford Street in Norwich.

A signature event of Cornell Cooperative Extension, Open Farm Day is a community celebration to be held on July 18 across Chenango County. The event offers visitors an engaging and educational experience while supporting local agriculture. The Loomis Barn, a horse barn believed to have been built in the late 1860s, is just one of many locales featured during this year’s celebration.

The Loomis Barn will be open for self-guided tours throughout the day. An immersive visitor experience, The Loomis Barn features a variety of exhibits and artifacts that illustrate the progression of agriculture, the dairy industry, and local industrial heritage.

In celebration of Chenango’s Open Farm Day, CCHS will unveil the newest Loomis Barn exhibit, “Pastures of the Past: The Dairy Collection of Ed Aley” at 1 p.m. Edward B. Aley, Jr., a long-time resident of Chenango County, donated a significant portion of his robust agricultural memorabilia to CCHS in 2022. Thanks to the donation and delivery of vintage display cases by Kutik’s earlier this year, many of the milk bottles and dairy ephemera in Aley’s collection now have appropriate space for public exhibition on the CCHS museum campus.

“Community support is at the center of everything we do,” said Jessica Moquin, CCHS executive director. “We are extremely grateful to both Ed and Kutik’s for their thoughtful donations, which allow us to preserve and share the rich agricultural heritage of Chenango County.”

First established in 1939, CCHS is the area’s premier heritage museum dedicated to celebrating local culture—its unique traditions and noteworthy stories. Programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. CCHS is also a proud partner of Bloomberg Connects, an app that allows visitors to enhance their exhibit experience through audio clips, videos, and more. Download this free digital museum guide via the Apple Store or Google Play, and visit ChenangoHistorical.org for more details about this and other museum programs.

Family owned and operated since 1978, Kutik’s has grown to be the largest apiary in the Northeast, running 18,000 colonies, producing/selling more than 80,000 queens, and selling more than 10,000 nucs a year. The company is responsible for pollinating crops along the east coast as well as sending bees west for almond pollination. Kutik’s also produces more than 900,000 pounds of honey to be processed and sold at retail and wholesale levels.

— Information from CCHS