A new end-of-summer festival will celebrate hemp’s past and future in Clark County next week.

The Hemp Harvest Festival has been developed over the past year, Winchester-Clark County Tourism Director Nancy Turner said, following discussions with Don Isenstein of the Kentucky Hemp Highway.

“It’s been organically coming together,” Turner said. “We met with (Bluegrass Heritage Museum director Sandy Stults) and decided this was an opportunity to highlight the role hemp played in developing Clark County. It also was a way to celebrate the resurgence of the hemp industry.”

The events will begin with a hemp-infused dinner at the museum, which will also serve as a fundraiser for the museum, she said. During the evening, there will be a series of presentations about hemp’s history in Clark County and Kentucky, as well as the current state of the industry.

The festival hits full stride Saturday, Oct. 5, with a series of events in downtown Winchester. Throughout the day there will be live music, vendors, demonstrations, arts and crafts, and hemp items on sale, she said.

“There will be a couple historical lectures about hemp and its importance in Clark County” at Leeds Center for the Arts. There will also be panel discussions about the future of hemp and hemp plastics.

Bruce Manley, campus director at Winchester’s Bluegrass Community and Technical College campus, will speak about the college’s new hemp curriculum, she said, and state agriculture officials will speak about the application process for the state’s 2020 hemp program.

Festival-goers will also have the opportunity to tour Jeremy Jones’ farm. Shuttles will depart at 10:45 a.m., 12:45 p.m. and 2:45 p.m.

“They should be harvesting hemp that day,” Turner said.

Vendors at the festival will have a variety of hemp food products including chocolate, hot dogs, honey, coffee, cheese, ice cream and beer, she said

Turner said the festival has become bigger than they initially thought.

“Being a first-year festival, we didn’t know what to expect,” she said. “Here we are a week out and we have 55 vendors. … We hope this will be a wonderful event that will continue and grow for many years to come.”