By Michael P. Walsh
Special to the Voice
The city is holding a new festival that will celebrate its diverse heritage of food while also commemorating the rich history of figs.
Yes, figs.
On Saturday, organizers will feature the popular fruit for the first time as part of the city’s International Food & Fig Festival on the lawn in front of Savin Rock, off Captain Thomas Boulevard.
A fig is an Asian species of flowering plant in the mulberry family that is widely grown worldwide, both for its fruit and as an ornamental plant.
The festival, set for 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., will showcase vendors buying, selling and trading figs or fig trees.
According to organizers, one participating vendor grows 350 varieties of fig trees; another grows 200 varieties.
The event will even include a fig demonstration, fig farmers market and fig tasting, organizers said.
“It is very exciting to have a new festival in the city that will celebrate West Haven culture, food and, of course, figs,” Mayor Nancy R. Rossi said.
The multicultural event will also include a DJ playing hit music and a smorgasbord of food vendors dishing up eats and sweets on the lawn of Savin Rock and in the parking lot of the nearby Savin Rock Conference Center, 6 Rock St.
Dr. Charles R. Vossbrinck, an associate agricultural scientist at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station and a self-proclaimed fig enthusiast, will speak at 11 a.m., 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. about propagating and overwintering figs in the state.
“I look forward to connecting with the fig hobbyists at the festival and meeting with them once in a while,” said Vossbrinck, a molecular biologist who is running trials of five varieties of figs in a greenhouse at the station’s 75-acre research farm, Lockwood Farm, in Hamden.
Vossbrinck is growing the fig varieties in 25-gallon self-watering pots both outdoors and in high tunnels. The pots are stored indoors during the winter.
The station, based in New Haven and operated by the state, engages in scientific research and public outreach in agriculture and related fields. Founded in 1875, it is the oldest state experiment station in the U.S.
Vossbrinck and his team are also trying to grow figs outdoors, a difficult task because of Connecticut’s cold winters and the need to extend the growing season, he said.
Rossi said the festival is taking place at no cost to the city, thanks to private donations and sponsors.