Thank you!
Your support is sustaining the future of local news in our communities.

Foxtrot Farm & Flowers blossoms into a wedding venue

Foxtrot Farm & Flowers blossoms into a wedding venue

A wedding dinner at the farm.

Kate Farrar

Foxtrot Farm and Flowers is a lot more than a farm with flowers. Over the past few years, it’s been an art gallery, a movie theatre, a holiday market venue, a pop-up restaurant, and perhaps most importantly for farmer and owner Kate Farrar, a wedding venue. Farrar hosted her own wedding at the farm in 2024 and is now opening it up for public bookings.

After 10 years of agricultural work in the Hudson Valley, Farrar opened her farm in 2021 in Stanfordville with the express purpose of growing beautiful flowers in a way that worked with the land and the people who live around it. Today, she harvests some of the most vibrant, regeneratively grown flowers in the county.

For years, Foxtrot had been making stunning arrangements for weddings from Brooklyn to the Berkshires, but it was Farrar’s own wedding that changed how she saw the farm’s potential.

In 2023, Farrar got engaged to local filmmaker, Brian Gersten, now her husband. While the couple was still in the early stages of planning, they took a quick trip to Mexico City and came back with a whole suitcase of inspiration. Together, they toiled away to transform a historic barn and some unused outdoor space into a magical place to eat, drink and be merry — or married, as it were.

After the success of their wedding in 2024, the concept had been proven. The farm, the flowers and the visible efforts from the bride and groom had their guests raving that this was something truly special and unique. The event stood out from many of the more standard wedding experiences they’d all attended in the past, delightful though they may have been.

Farrar and Gersten on their wedding day.Autumn Jordan

2025 was a big year for the farm. With help from a New York State arts grant, Gersten screened a series of flower-related films in the barn. Farrar and her team hosted a holiday craft and farm market called Farm & Friends.

This year has seen even more events. In June, Foxtrot housed the “Bugs!” art show as part of Upstate Art Weekend. It hosted a series of outdoor farm dinners with food and drinks provided by Westerly Canteen, Fair Play Hospitality and 10 Mile Table. Foxtrot was also the home base for Dahlia Daze, a multi-farm dahlia tuber festival. The 2026 Farm & Friends preholiday market is already in the works for November.

But now, Farrar is giving couples the opportunity to have their own big days at her farm. She and Gersten built a tiny house on the property, expanded the outdoor gathering areas and designed a honeymoon suite studio just next to the farm. On Oct, 16,17 and 18, Foxtrot is hosting an open house for curious couples, wedding planners and industry professionals to experience the magic of the farm for themselves.

Though Farrar has been planning this shift for some time, pressures from the increased costs of farming in America have fueled her resolve.

“2026,” she said, “felt very different from 2025.”

As videos circulate nationally of farmers on the brink of losing family farms after generations of work, small farms are not immune to those pressures.

Adding to them is the unpredictable nature of climate change. As local residents will no doubt remember, the winter of 2025-26 was a brutal one in the region, with thick snow and deep freezes. Farrar has more than enough experience to adapt to changing and extreme growing conditions, but adopting new business ventures will work to keep the flowers blooming.

Luckily for her, this new path is one she’s passionate and excited about. Using the farm as a venue not only lets Farrar share her special space with large groups of celebrants, but also allows her to keep growing the fabulous flowers the farm is known for.

To learn more about Foxtrot as a farm and a venue, visit foxtrotfarmflowers.com.

Latest News

Car, truck collide head-onon Route 44 in East Canaan

A car and box truck collided head-on on Route 44 near Hillside Cemetery in East Canaan Oct. 26, injuring both drivers.

Patrick Stachniak

EAST CANAAN — Two drivers suffered minor injuries in a head-on collision on Route 44 in East Canaan near Hillside Cemetery on Monday, Oct. 26.

Aidan Figueroa, 22, of Oxford, was driving west in a2016 Nissan Altima at around3:45 p.m. when he crossed into the opposite lane on a curve and struck a box truck driven by Larry Santiago, 57, according to police. The truck then went off the road and struck a tree.

Keep ReadingShow less

Sarah Margaret Paul

Sarah Margaret Paul

CORNWALL — Sarah Margaret Paul, July 2, 1936 – October 3, 2026.

As you read this obituary, please do so in the lovely British accent our mother, Sarah Paul retained all her life. But don’t be fooled by this posh exterior: mom preferred simple LL Bean shirts and pants, chain-sawed her own trees, and could change a back bicycle tire. She grew up under the class and gender strictures of mid-twentieth century England, warned away from anything remotely risky or “unladylike” by her mother, which led her to believe all her life that she lacked courage.

Keep ReadingShow less

Randolph Allard Hogan

Randolph Allard Hogan

AMESVILLE — Randolph Allard Hogan, 78,passed away on Sept. 30, 2026, after a valiant battle with cancer. Randy was born on Dec. 10, 1947 in Queens, New York.As a child, he developed a passion for cars. As a teen, he loved to read and listen to jazz. Randy loved movies and possessed an encyclopedic knowledge of film. He carried these interests, and many more, throughout his life. He relished a good conversation and a strong cup of coffee.

Randy spent much time during his childhood in Mexico City, where his mother, Elena Rubio Garcia, was born and he felt deeply connected to his heritage. His father, Lucien Marion Hogan, was born in Randolph, Massachusetts which is how Randy got his name.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

Richard Francis Knapp

Richard Francis Knapp

TORRINGTON — Richard Francis Knapp, 74, of Torrington, died Oct. 21, 2026, at the Valerie Manor in Torrington. He was the son of the late Theodore A. Knapp Sr. and Marion Margaret (Winters) Knapp. Richard was born in Waterbury on June 2, 1952.

In the late 1960’s he was employed at the Kent Milk Bar, as his first job. The Kent Milk Bar was owned and operated by his dad, Ted Knapp.It was an institution in town.He was a member of the 1966 KCS Region 1 Grade School Basketball Championship. Rick was an active Kent Boy Scout participating in all activities and functions and thoroughly enjoyed the scouting experience. His memory of places, people, and events in Kent historycould rarely be challenged.Hegraduated from the class of 1970, Housatonic Valley Regional High School.After high school, Richard pursued his education in Communications, at Graham Jr. College located in Boston, Massachusetts.

Keep ReadingShow less
Cornwall Historical Society celebrates Connecticut’s Black patriots

On Saturday, Oct. 24, at the Cornwall Historical Society, author and genealogist John Mills will breathe new life into the stories of some of Connecticut’s more underappreciated patriots. The reason these heroes were forgotten? They were Black.

At a time when white colonists were fighting for their own liberty and political independence, many Black men who fought alongside them remained enslaved. Some risked their lives only to return to bondage. Though enslaved people were promised freedom from both sides of the Revolutionary War in exchange for their service, Great Britain, too, was still deeply dependent on slavery. For Black people in America, the war presented both extraordinary risks and uncertain paths to the freedom that white colonists were demanding for themselves.

Keep ReadingShow less

A sanctuary for second chances

A sanctuary for second chances

Stephanie Saetta runs Charlie Chicken Bones, a sanctuary in Salisbury.

Madi Long
You only get one or two of these soul connection dogs, so I do this in his honor.
— Stephanie Saetta

Stephanie Saetta has spent much of her life caring for others. A physician at White Plains Hospital, she has another calling at home in Salisbury — one that has four legs and a wagging tail. She runs Charlie Chicken Bone Sanctuary, a nonprofit dog rescue that brings dogs from overcrowded pounds and the streets of Texas to foster homes in northwestern Connecticut, where they can begin again.

The sanctuary is named for Charlie, the dog who taught her how special a bond between a person and rescue animal can be.

Keep ReadingShow less
google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.

google preferred source

Want more of our stories on Google? Click here to make us a Preferred Source.