Last night’s FRESH! Gala attracted residents from all over New York State and the likes of Assemblyman Bill MaGee, Sen. Dave Valesky and town supervisors from across the county.

The Lavelle family of Cazenovia hosted the evening event at heir home on Brick Farm off Rathbun Road. The family has lived on the farm for about a year, while their previous farm is up for sale in New Woodstock.

The gala was held in the Lavelles’ barn where wood chips were put down and beams were adorned with corn stalks and strings of lights. About 175 guests attended the event that was sponsored by Cazenovia Equipment and Price Chopper while Persaud Marketing Agency conceptualized, developed and produced the event

Empire Brewing Company in Syracuse provided the frosty beverages while the event was catered by Chef Sean O’Brien of Serendipity Catering with the help of fresh farm products. Guests listened to the tunes of the Julie Falatico Trio out of Utica as they participated in a silent auction.

While buying local and spending local is a key component to the way of life for the Brian and Nikki Lavelle and their six children, it was quite an honor and a task to take on the challenge of hosting the first ever FRESH! Gala.

“It’s exciting to host the first one,” said Nikki. “The Madison County Agricultural Economic Development Agency thought we had the space to host the gala and that everyone attending would feel comfortable.”

The gala came into full-wing during a six-month period of planning.

“It’s been a tough week,” Brian said. “But it’s great, there is a lot of extra traffic through the farm thanks to having the gala here.”

The family farm

The family exclusively raises about 3,000 hens that produce about 50 dozen eggs per day. The eggs are sold in several P&C grocery stores in Central New York and they fly off the shelf, Nikki said. Making their name well-known, the family has their personal story inside each package of Lady Lavelle Brick Farm eggs.

The inside label talks about how Brian and Nikki became high school sweethearts and dreamed of having a family farm one day. The couple attended college separately but was reunited after and raised their first child that struggled with health issues. The Lavelles’ first child Hailey, now 12 years old, survived and they went on to raise five more children, Emma, 11, Jack, 7, William, 4, Tatum, 3, and Parker who is seven months old.

Brian and Nikki named the farm out of a combination of their names, and also used the farm name for their first farm in New Woodstock. The couple outgrew the first six-acre farm and moved to Cazenovia a year ago to their “dream home.”

The Lavelles have about 20 goats, one cow named Charity, three dogs and a few barn cats that roam the farm.

Reasons to farm

Nikki said that she and her husband started to read several articles that depicted the horror stories of caged chickens and poor animal treatment. Also, the couple learned more about all-natural farm products versus hormone-injected products that are overrun with additives.

The Lavelles raise their chickens in a large henhouse that is attached to the barn, the thousands of chickens are free-range and are on a specific diet of all-natural flaxseed making their eggs rich in Omega 3 fatty acids, they said.

The Brick Farm also houses its own egg facility that sanitizes all the eggs thoroughly before they’re packaged and sent to a grocery store. The family has only been recently selling their eggs in store during the past three months.

Nikki said there has been a huge demand and the freshness of the eggs has been the true testament to the success.

Another reason the family wanted to raise their own “healthy, natural and antibiotic-free” eggs was that they found many other producers farming eggs and taking up to three months to get the eggs to a store.

“That’s not fresh,” Nikki said of the slow process. “Our eggs are laid and brought to the store, if you want an egg straight from the hen, that’s what you’re going to get.”

Buying local, a year-round mindset

The whole focus of Buy Local Week and the FRESH! Gala was to promote the prime advantage of having local farms and markets, but the focus after the planned events is to keep community members buying local year-round.

In attendance at the gala, Sen. Valesky, who has been a vocal advocate of buying local along with Assemblyman MaGee, said that the gala was only the start of what he hopes becomes a permanent mindset.

“I think it’s important to locally grown products,” Valesky said. “Agriculture is the number one market in the area.”

He said that a planned event like Buy Local Week or Open Farm Day, to run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday Aug. 22 across the county, helps bring the idea to the attention to those that may not realize the advantages they have around them.

“The gala is a great kickoff event and Saturday will be great day too,” Valesky said. “We want this to become a long-term mindset in Madison County and beyond.”

Valesky said he hopes that this is the start of changing attitudes and promoting spending in the local communities.

{Q}”We need to keep this going the other 51 weeks of the year,” Valesky said.{Q}