Blueberry Festival part of bigger plan

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - The sights and sounds of summer were on display Thursday afternoon in the annual Blueberry Festival in Terre Haute.

It's part of a plan four years in the making.

"We're here to have people sign up and be members, to make the community aware of Terre Foods," said Dave Voltmer, a Terre Foods organizer.

In 2008, a group of people met in a living room to discuss starting a co-op selling fresh, organic foods.

That's when the Blueberry Festival was born, in an effort to get the community involved.

"If you have frozen products, you can get them anywhere anytime, but if you want them fresh, you have to plan," said Voltmer.

What better plan than to show off some fresh produce. In this case, that produce is 1500 pounds of blueberries.

Add some some ice cream, a few baked goods, and a little music, and who wouldn't want to stop by for a bite?

An interesting thing about this year's festival is they asked people to 'BYOB,' bring your own bowl. It's all in a effort to continue the green lifestyle and reduce the waste.

For those wondering the big question, "why blueberries?"

"Why not," said Voltmer. "We have a strawberry festival, we can't duplicate that. Name another seasonal Indiana product."

While the co-op still needs a little more than a hundred people to sign up, they're enjoying the present while looking to the future.

"I would hope that a year from now, we're talking about a store opening," said Voltmer