Farmer of the Year award to be presented Sunday

Published 1:30 am Thursday, July 23, 2026

PORT ANGELES — The North Olympic Land Trust will present its Farmer of the Year award to the Dick Family Farm during its 11th Land Trust Picnic from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.

The free picnic will be at Olympic Bluffs Cidery and Lavender Farm, 1025 Finn Hall Road, Port Angeles.

Attendees are encouraged to register at www.north olympiclandtrust.org.

The barn raising-themed picnic will include demonstrations of historic blacksmithing, wool and fiber arts and hand butter churning.

Guests also will hear live music by Raygun Carver, and have an opportunity to participate in lawn games and a community potluck.

The land trust will provide a main dish. Guests are encouraged to bring a side dish or dessert to share.

Non-alcoholic beverages will be provided, and beverages will be available for purchase from the cidery.

The annual Farmer of the Year Award recognizes individuals, families and farms whose dedication to agriculture has strengthened the North Olympic Peninsula’s farming heritage and helped ensure farmland remains productive for future generations.

The Dick Family Farm, sometimes referred to as the Big Red Barn Farm, was established in the early 1900s and grew into one of the region’s leading dairy operations.

The land trust recently partnered with the Hunt family, the farm’s current operators, to permanently preserve it as productive farmland through agricultural conservation easements.

”The Big Red Barn Farm was home to the Dick Family Farm for over 120 years as a pillar in this community,” said Tom Sanford, the land trust’s executive director. “Since the 1980s, the farm has been worked by Adolphsen Farm, whom we honored with this award in 2013. It is such a privilege to honor the Dick Family for their terrific stewardship of this property since 1904.”

Past recipients of the Farmer of the Year Award include Nash Huber, Steve Johnson, Gary Smith, Johnston Farm, Clark Farms, Chi’s Farm, Sisterland Farm and the Port Angeles and Sequim Farmers Markets.