Everything was turning up turnips in Eastham where the town celebrated its favorite root vegetable with songs, games, competitions and more at the 12th annual Turnip Festival.
The festivities at Nauset Regional High School got underway with the Blessing of the Turnips, followed by the crowning of the Turnip Queen, a turnip shuck-off, turnip bowling, a cook-off and the Enormous Turnip contest.
Connie Wells, who with her husband Bob, grows thousands of the sweet, white Eastham Turnips at their Redberry Farm, said they would sell about 1,000 pounds of the veggie at the festival.
Connie Wells of Redberry Farm shows off her Eastham Turnips.
Eastham turnips are prized by cooks for their uncommonly sweet and delicate flavor. The local veggies, a heirloom species passed from generation to generation for more than 100 years, are large and white with a pretty purple crown. The late Art Nickerson, Eastham’s turnip king, declared that the good-draining, sweet, sandy soil in North Eastham works magic on the root vegetable, producing its memorable taste.
The hot dry summer made for less-than-ideal growing conditions this year, but there were plenty of turnips for the long line of fans waiting to buy them for their Thanksgiving table.
The Turnip Festival is a benefit for the Eastham Public Library.
Julia Douglas hugs some stuffed turnips at the Eastham Turnip Festival
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