The Sublette County Conservation District is excited to host its fourth Spring Expo on June 19 at the Sublette County Ice Arena!

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Spring Expo was canceled last year. This year, we are moving forward with the Spring Expo and look forward to hosting many exciting local vendors.

Vendor products include local meats, native garden plants, maple syrup, jams and jellies, handmade garden decor, breads, homemade salad dressings, soaps, high altitude seeds, lawn and garden implements, birdhouses and more. We will also be hosting an educational kids’ activity corner where kids will get to participate in a nature-themed activity.

The Spring Expo will begin at 9 a.m. with door prizes drawn throughout the day. The Sage & Snow Garden Club will be there selling perennial flowers that have been lifted from their local gardens – this booth sells out every year! Chicken poop bingo squares will be sold throughout the day and the chickens will be “let out of the cage” at 1 p.m. Funds raised will go to the 4-H Foundation.

At 10:30 a.m., we will have a speaker presentation that you won’t want to miss! Penn and Cord Parmenter, owners of Smart Greenhouses, LLC, and Miss Penn’s Mountain Seeds, will present on high-elevation gardening and greenhouse designs.

Penn and Cord Parmenter are mountain food and seed growers and high-elevation gardening teachers. They design and build totally sustainable greenhouses that heat, cool and ventilate themselves without the use of fossil fuel.

Gardening at high elevation has its challenges. They have mastered growing tomatoes, pumpkins, and full ears of sweet corn, melons and more at high elevation! They are excited to teach ways to define and ultimately overcome the challenges of the high country. Since 1992, they have been growing food at 8,120 feet in the Colorado mountains. They plan to have high-elevation-adapted seeds for sale and greenhouse designs that would be a great fit for the climate in Sublette County.

This event would not be possible without the help from our local sponsors: Rocky Mountain Power, Ridley’s Family Market, Barnyards & Backyards, Sublette BOCES, Bank of Sublette County, Rocky Mountain Yeti, the Wyoming Community Foundation and The Nature Conservancy. We are excited to have so many great vendors joining us this year and hope to see a good turnout from the community. Mark your calendars; we look forward to seeing you in June!

– The Sublette County Conservation District provides an educational article on the first Tuesday of each month. For more, visit the office at 217 County Club Lane, Pinedale or go to Sublettecd.com.