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A Summer Evening at Katchkie Farm: The Sylvia Center’s Annual Celebration

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Every summer, The Sylvia Center welcomes friends, supporters, and community members to Katchkie Farm in the Hudson Valley for its annual farm event — a joyful evening of connection, good food, and shared purpose. This year was no exception. Under the warm August sun, guests gathered among the vibrant gardens and open fields to celebrate The Sylvia Center’s work inspiring children, teens, and families to eat well through hands-on learning.

Our Shared Roots

Great Performances and The Sylvia Center have a unique and deeply personal bond. In 2006, our founder, Liz Neumark, purchased Katchkie Farm with the vision of creating a space where education, sustainability, and community could flourish. Soon after, she founded The Sylvia Center, planting the seeds — both literal and figurative — for a program that now reaches thousands of young people each year.

Today, Great Performances continues to play a central role in this event, working alongside The Sylvia Center team to plan the evening and create a menu that celebrates the bounty of the season. We draw inspiration directly from the farm, sourcing fresh, local ingredients and transforming them into dishes that reflect the vibrancy of summer in the Hudson Valley.

A Feast from the Farm

This year’s menu was a love letter to summer produce and the region’s farmers. Guests enjoyed butlered hors d’oeuvres like carrot tartare cups, roasted cherry tomato tatin, and house-made kosher pigs in a blanket alongside refreshing hibiscus iced tea and hand-squeezed lemonade.

From the stations, wood-fired pizza bianca was paired with sweet and hot Italian sausages from Lovers Leap Farm, while a Mediterranean-inspired spread featured souvlaki chicken and vegetable skewers, creamy hummus, and tangy tzatziki. Seasonal vegetable dishes — grilled carrots, zucchini, kale and radicchio salad, roasted beets, and a wild rice and cherry tomato salad — celebrated the best of the summer harvest.

For a sweet finale, guests cooled off with gelato from Common Meadows Creamery, the perfect ending to a perfect summer evening.

A Warm, Welcoming Gathering

The farm event has always been more than just a dinner. It’s an opportunity to connect with the land, meet the people behind The Sylvia Center’s programs, and feel the impact of its mission firsthand. Holly Prochilo, a member of the Great Performances team who volunteered for the first time this year, put it best:

“The farm itself is breathtaking, but the photos can’t fully capture the energy that happens when a group of people comes together in such a magical place to do good. Great Performances’ vision of building community to better our world was on full display — and it was quite the show.”

Holy Prochilo

Looking Ahead

As the evening wound down and guests lingered to watch the sun set over the rolling hills, there was a shared sense of gratitude — for the food, for the company, and for the mission that brought everyone together.

We are proud to partner with The Sylvia Center in making this event possible each year, and we are inspired by the work they do to cultivate a healthier future for our communities.

To learn more about The Sylvia Center’s programs and to support their work, visit The Sylvia Center. We hope to see you at Katchkie Farm next summer.

Photo credit: Bogardus Photography

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