Celebrating Missouri’s perennial harvest at the Chestnut Roast Festival

More than 1,500 people gathered to celebrate mid-Missouri’s agroforestry community at the Chestnut Roast Festival in New Franklin on Saturday, October 18. Hosted by the Center for Agroforestry at the MU Horticulture and Agroforestry Research Farm, the event helps Missourians build connections with farmers, chefs, technical assistance providers, extension agents, nonprofits, and businesses connected to the perennial crops sector.  

Each year, the festivities truly began the day before the fest for an in-depth field workshop on tree crop cultivation and agroforestry system design. This year, the Center for Agroforestry held its first ever workshop on growing hazelnuts in the Midwest. Approximately 50 growers and technical assistance providers spent the day at our research farm touring hazelnut plantings and learning from hazelnut experts, including Tom Molnar of Rutgers University and Center for Agroforestry researchers and students including Ron Revord, Aubrey Teckham, and Bryan Webber. Participants and facilitators left the farm with growing excitement for the expanding hazelnut industry in Missouri and the Midwest. 

To kick off the festival, more than 30 vendors and 50 volunteers arrived early on Saturday morning to set up their booths and stations with themes ranging from tree nuts and artisan goods to technical assistance and native plants. Paired with Center for Agroforestry exhibits, attendees browsed samples and took home recipes for Missouri’s main agroforestry crops: black walnuts, pecans, elderberries, hazelnuts, and, of course, chestnuts. 

The culinary experience was central to this year’s festival. Chestnuts appeared in many forms: traditionally roasted, Instapot-prepared, chestnut ice cream from Buck’s Ice Cream, and chestnut soup catered by Pasta La Fata. Roasted hazelnut samples were also available thanks to collaborator Tom Molnar and the Hybrid Hazelnut Consortium’s research orchards at Rutgers University. Hazelnut blondies, black walnut cookies, and elderberry lemonade were sold through a fundraiser for the Mizzou Agroforestry and Foresty Student Organization, raising more than $500 for professional development and scholarship opportunities. 

The Mizzou tree sugaring booth drew constant crowds as curious visitors sampled four specialty crop syrups: sycamore, birch (both early- and late-season harvests), black walnut, and maple. Missouri black walnut syrup emerged as a crowd favorite—an untapped potential for stewards of small woodlands in our state.  

Festival attendees also had opportunities to climb aboard hay wagons for guided tours through our research orchards, showcasing the Center’s longstanding breeding programs for chestnuts, black walnuts, and elderberries, as well as our pine, sunn hemp, and sheep silvopasture experiment. Back at the main festival grounds, local bands Noah Earle Music and Ironweed Bluegrass Band provided the soundtrack to the fest while children crafted nature playdough sculptures and created acorn paintings in the kids zone with the MU Child Development Lab. 

The rain held off long enough for nearly a full day of festivities. When it arrived, it arrived with gusto—dumping over an inch in just a few hours. But by then, attendees had safely departed with bellies full and minds inspired by this community celebration of agroforestry’s positive impact on our landscapes, our economy, and our health. 

Thank you to all who joined us to celebrate agroforestry in Missouri and beyond! We look forward to seeing you next year.