TorontoJoe
Administrator
I love it!
DMV Spring FigFest May 31st 2025
- Thread starter DCallahan
- Start date
I love it!
There were SO MANY fig trees floating around, great bunch of standard good quality varieties plus lots of new highly in demand types. I arrived with a truck full of big trees and left with 1 very special early adriatic to add to our Adriatic collection in WV USA. The attendees asked good questions at the presentations and were very enthusiastic to learn!
9ah-figlet
Well-known member
I was just building the suspense!
The DMV Figfest was a blast! We had over 150 attendees, three speakers, over 10 vendors, and nearly 100 trees and other fig related swag raffles/auction off. A little rain wasn't going to dampen our spirits!
DMV Fig Growers showcased Figfanatic.com with multiple tabletop signs, FF labels/stickers on trees donated by members, and the FF swag in the welcome area.
Thank you again @TorontoJoe for generously donating the FF swag!
VENDORS
Most of the fig tree vendors sold most of their trees. Some DMV members came prepared with wagons to cart their purchases around!
@Bigbill's Off the Beaten Path
Our own @DCallahan
and @WVMJack who pre-sold his sought-after trees via the FB group and delivered them at the Fig Fest
Fig Trees USA (formerly Traveling Gardeners based in NJ)
Some DMV members set up their own tables to sell their wares while others presold/traded via the FB group and used the Fig Fest for deivery.
I bought a cold hardy banana from Kendall.
Mid-Atlantic Screen Printing provided fig-themed t-shirts as well. You could purchase there or pre-order and pick-up at the event.
SPEAKERS
First off was our own @Gladstone1969 who shared his knowledge on grafting. Brian held a raffle on FB that gave two winners a mature tree grafted with the varieties of their choice. He grafted these trees as part of his demo and then stayed around to help anyone who wanted to graft threes they bought at the fest.
Is that a Vince #3 that Brian is grafting? Seriously, Brian was able to offer DMV members a beautiful selection of varieties to choose to graft on the trees. He raised more money by selling buds for people to try grafting at home. I recognized the gold metallic labelling of a certain famously generous member (ahem, @Fig Gazer) so thank you and any other forum members who may have donated cuttings.
Next up was Jack Ma who spoke on cutting propogation. A legend in our area, Jack isn't as active online but is always generous with his time and fig tree donations.
@Bigbill offered his wisdom for general growing tips in our region as well as an extended question and answer session. His tip of black landscape paper to raise the temperature so figs have better ripening window is a good tip I hadn't heard very often.
LUNCH (and a little rain)
The storms broke quickly so I took shelter in the cidery tasting room along with many other attendees. The fig fest is a real family event--many people bring their kids (both human and dog).
We are very grateful to Two Story Chimney Ciderworks for hosting our event. The venue is perfect for us, and their cider is delicious. I took a 4-pack of the Over the Falls (a dry hopped cider aged in red wine barrels) home with me. That's the owner hard at work with his baby.
Origins BBQ and Grill offered yummy bbq brisket/pork for lunch.
The kids weren't bothered by the rain at all! This girls were adorable splashing in their pink boots.
RAFFLES/GIVEAWAYS
DMV Fig Growers keep their events free to attend through raffle ticket sales of donated trees. As well as the smaller trees, @DCallahan donated a beautiful 15-gallon Maltese Beauty and 10-gallon Italian Honey. As well as 20 trees, @JC Figgy donated a 6-ft Frankenfig with Beltrana, Cdd Mutante, De La Roca , Moro De Caneva grafted on it. One lucky attendee won 2 Angelito and the Boysenberry Blush!
Dan winning the HSK Unk or the Vince 3.
A happy winner of one of @bushdoctor82's Figo Pretos.
The DMV Figfest was a blast! We had over 150 attendees, three speakers, over 10 vendors, and nearly 100 trees and other fig related swag raffles/auction off. A little rain wasn't going to dampen our spirits!
DMV Fig Growers showcased Figfanatic.com with multiple tabletop signs, FF labels/stickers on trees donated by members, and the FF swag in the welcome area.
Thank you again @TorontoJoe for generously donating the FF swag!
VENDORS
Most of the fig tree vendors sold most of their trees. Some DMV members came prepared with wagons to cart their purchases around!
@Bigbill's Off the Beaten Path
Our own @DCallahan
and @WVMJack who pre-sold his sought-after trees via the FB group and delivered them at the Fig Fest
Fig Trees USA (formerly Traveling Gardeners based in NJ)
Some DMV members set up their own tables to sell their wares while others presold/traded via the FB group and used the Fig Fest for deivery.
I bought a cold hardy banana from Kendall.
Mid-Atlantic Screen Printing provided fig-themed t-shirts as well. You could purchase there or pre-order and pick-up at the event.
SPEAKERS
First off was our own @Gladstone1969 who shared his knowledge on grafting. Brian held a raffle on FB that gave two winners a mature tree grafted with the varieties of their choice. He grafted these trees as part of his demo and then stayed around to help anyone who wanted to graft threes they bought at the fest.
Is that a Vince #3 that Brian is grafting? Seriously, Brian was able to offer DMV members a beautiful selection of varieties to choose to graft on the trees. He raised more money by selling buds for people to try grafting at home. I recognized the gold metallic labelling of a certain famously generous member (ahem, @Fig Gazer) so thank you and any other forum members who may have donated cuttings.
Next up was Jack Ma who spoke on cutting propogation. A legend in our area, Jack isn't as active online but is always generous with his time and fig tree donations.
@Bigbill offered his wisdom for general growing tips in our region as well as an extended question and answer session. His tip of black landscape paper to raise the temperature so figs have better ripening window is a good tip I hadn't heard very often.
LUNCH (and a little rain)
The storms broke quickly so I took shelter in the cidery tasting room along with many other attendees. The fig fest is a real family event--many people bring their kids (both human and dog).
We are very grateful to Two Story Chimney Ciderworks for hosting our event. The venue is perfect for us, and their cider is delicious. I took a 4-pack of the Over the Falls (a dry hopped cider aged in red wine barrels) home with me. That's the owner hard at work with his baby.
Origins BBQ and Grill offered yummy bbq brisket/pork for lunch.
The kids weren't bothered by the rain at all! This girls were adorable splashing in their pink boots.
RAFFLES/GIVEAWAYS
DMV Fig Growers keep their events free to attend through raffle ticket sales of donated trees. As well as the smaller trees, @DCallahan donated a beautiful 15-gallon Maltese Beauty and 10-gallon Italian Honey. As well as 20 trees, @JC Figgy donated a 6-ft Frankenfig with Beltrana, Cdd Mutante, De La Roca , Moro De Caneva grafted on it. One lucky attendee won 2 Angelito and the Boysenberry Blush!
Dan winning the HSK Unk or the Vince 3.
A happy winner of one of @bushdoctor82's Figo Pretos.
Last edited:
Fishinjunky
Well-known member
Thats awesome!!! I'm going to try hard to make it next year it's only around 4hrs away from me.
9ah-figlet
Well-known member
It would be so nice to meet you in person. Our next event is in the Fall if you were interested.
Figless
Well-known member
WOW what an incredible event, thank you so much to all our FigFanatic members who generously donated their time, swag, and their trees to make this event so special. Thank you @9ah-figlet for posting so many wonderful pictures of all our favorite members.
JC Figgy
Well-known member
Thank you @9ah-figlet for taking all these photos.
superdave336
Well-known member
Looks like an amazing event. Lots of smiling faces and good looking trees. Looks like it would be hard to leave the event with empty hands. Thanks for sharing with everyone that couldn’t attend.
Gladstone1969
Well-known member
It was! You should make a vacation out of it this Fall.
Gladstone1969
Well-known member
I’m glad I’m not the only one only one who was tired afterwards. The downpour started right after my grafting presentation when I was doing the workshop with the participants. And I didn’t wear boots for the mud. My shoes and pants were a muddy mess. lol. Lesson learned for next time. It was a blast.I’m wore outWas a blast as usual, we did get a good 10-15 minute downpour! I wore boots for mud, so all good!
Nina will have a post when she gets thru all the photos.
Gladstone1969
Well-known member
Wonderful pictures and summary. Thank you @9ah-figlet! The pictures can’t show how packed this event was. The attendance was very impressive. Lot’s of happy folks.
JC Figgy
Well-known member
I came prepared with the boots. lol. Still managed to get some mud on my pants.
9ah-figlet
Well-known member
JC Figgy
Well-known member
9/13/25 is our Fall FigFest
TorontoJoe
Administrator
Absolutley wonderful! Sorry about the rain but everyone looks to be having a great time!
TorontoJoe
Administrator
It's so nice to see kids running around and playing... I love that these are events families can enjoy together.
Gentleman?? That HSK is also very good, split way less than JH Adriatic!