Ceremony Will Celebrate

Ferris Farm Preservation

By Kendra Bobowick

“Ferris Farm will always be a farm,” said Deputy Director of Planning and Land Use Rob Sibley. “We’ve purchased a sustainable, working dairy farm, but unfortunately, it’s one of the last in Connecticut.”

In past years the town acquired easements for roughly 70 acres of the Ferris Farm along Sugar Street where Ferris Acres Creamery is open for ice cream, cows graze, and the land remains open to agriculture, hoof prints, and aromas of hay in the fields — all of which Mr Sibley and others wish to celebrate.

The public is invited to a ceremony to recognize this land, one of Newtown’s preserved open spaces, on Friday, June 11, at 11 am, during the Ferris Farm Dedication, 144 Sugar Street (Route 302).

Newtown Conservation Commission will host the event with invited guests and partners to include First Selectman Pat Llodra, former First Selectman Herb Rosenthal, state representatives, Governor M. Jodi Rell, and others.

The brief ceremony will include a reception for supporting partners, recognize open space funding from the state Department of Environmental Protection, and the unveiling of a new easement sign.

Several years ago the town purchased easements to Ferris property through a $2 million open space bond. The Department of Environmental Protections has since awarded $500,000, which will be used to offset that payment. Officials will unveil a plaque recognizing the preservation during the June 11 ceremony.

“People can visit, have ice cream, and see the plaque and know the farm will stay in perpetuity,” Mr Sibley said.

With acreage set aside in the easement, the land around the creamery and across the street where the cows graze will always remain farm land, which also works well for the Ferris family.

“They’re heavily invested in being a dairy farm,” he said.

The June 11 celebration is just “tying the bow on the package,” Mr Sibley explained. Contact the Land Use office at 203-270-4351 or rib.sibley@newtown-ct.gov for more information.