Connecting farmers and consumers in Quincy

QUINCY — The purpose of Quincy’s Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day remains what it has been since it began in 1981.  

“The whole point is to connect the farmer with the consumer,” said Leia Watkins, chair of the Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day committee. 

Many of the events, from the parade led by the Farm Family of the Year to produce sale that benefits the Quincy High School FFA chapter, are designed to connect the people who buy food to the people to produce it. Information is more readily available than it was in 1981, but many people still don’t understand the production process, Watkins said, and along with all the accurate information out there, there’s plenty of disinformation.    

“We’re doing our best to combat it,” she said.  

On Sept. 12, Quincy’s main street was filled with tractors and marching bands, dancing horses, floats featuring community groups, in the annual FCAD parade. The QHS FFA chapter held its produce sale in the Quincy Middle School parking lot.  

Now, the car show sponsored by the Quincy Valley Chamber of Commerce might not be strictly ag-related, but not far from to the Chevrolet Blazer chopped into a roadster – the result of a couple extra beers, its owner admitted – there was a display of antique tractors and stationary engines, once essential farm machinery.  

Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day 2026 also featured live music, lunch sponsored by the Quincy Rotary that featured foods grown in the Quincy area, games for children and a booth from the Quincy Valley Historical Society focusing on the 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding.

    Horses of all kinds rode in the 2026 Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day parade.
 Cheryl Schweizer/Basin Business Journal   

    A young rider sits atop his horse during the FCAD parade.
 Cheryl Schweizer/Basin Business Journal   

    A bull rode along with the dancing horses in the 2026 Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day parade in Quincy.