New Freedom Farm is inviting the public to attend its Freedom Fest 2021 event spread out over three weekends in September: September 11–12, September 18–19, and September 25–26, from 9 am – 6 pm, rain or shine.
The event will occur at the farm located in Buchanan and will feature craft and food vendors, raffle items, live music, and information about the farm’s wild mustangs, that serve as therapeutic animals for program participants. This fundraiser for New Freedom Farm will bring awareness to the farm’s mission of healing heroes through horses and the high rate of suicide among veterans and first responders.
New Freedom Farm has much to celebrate this year having recently been awarded accreditation by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries (GFAS) and Guardian status through the Equus Foundation. The certification recognizes that the New Freedom Farm meets the organization’s rigorous equine care standards and is a safe place for veterans and horses. In the GFAS press release, they stated, “We are honored to announce New Freedom Farm is the first Veteran and Mustang organization in history to receive the prestigious Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries Accreditation.”
A new feature at Freedom Fest this year, will give attendees the opportunity to learn about the wild mustangs that live at New Freedom Farm. Visitors will be able to scan QR codes linked to the Bureau of Land Management’s wild mustang registry, to access the mustangs’ specific stories and paths to their homes at New Freedom Farm. Wild Mustangs are free-roaming horses in the Western United States, that were descended from horses brought to the Americas by the Spanish. Their population is managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mustang)
Executive Director, Lois Fritz states that “We are excited to host this year’s Freedom Fest to raise awareness of the 22 veterans and five first responders that commit suicide each day and for the wild mustangs that help them heal. Partnering with the Beaver Dam Sunflower Festival, which is only five miles away, we hope to have around 20,000 visitors to the farm during Freedom Fest, raising funds to help us continue our mission of healing heroes through horses.”
Tickets are available online for $7 or can be purchased the day of the fair.
https://www.newfreedomfarm.org/product-page/freedom-fest-2021-tickets
