The Campbell County Farm Bureau Women’s Program is hosting a new festival this weekend to support agricultural education efforts in the classroom.

The Bluegrass Crops & Critters Festival runs from 2 to 9 p.m. Saturday, indoors at Rustburg High School.

All proceeds will be donated to Virginia Agriculture in the Classroom (AITC), a statewide education program designed to help educators and students “understand the impact of agriculture on their daily lives, their health, society, the economy and the environment,” according to the program’s website.

“Their goal kind of is to educate this generation of kids coming up, to help them be better consumers and more aware of what agriculture is,” says Cindy Tweedy, co-chair of the Campbell County Farm Bureau Women’s Program.

Founded in 1987 by the Virginia Farm Bureau, the Virginia AITC is funded through donations to the nonprofit Virginia Foundation for Agriculture in the Classroom. According to its website, AITC has served almost 17,000 teachers — who have then gone on to impact more than 469,000 students —through workshops since its inception.

Educators also can use the AITC website, which offers free SOL-based lesson plans and student activities, says Tweedy, who has played some of the available games herself.

“They’re fun. Anybody can go on there and play,” she says. “They’re really educational. They’re geared to start them young, catch them young.”

She says the program also puts out a book every year focusing on a different topic.

“It’s mainly geared toward the elementary age,” she says. “… Our group, as well as statewide [groups], our committees, we go into the elementary schools and read to [grades] K through 3. It’s amazing, [some] kids don’t have a clue where their food comes from. Last year’s book was about seasons. A lot of them didn’t know the seasons.”

And it’s not just children, says Tweedy, who lives on a farm in Campbell County: “A lot of folks didn’t know, either, that agriculture and forestry are tied for the number one industry in Virginia.”

The Farm Bureau Women’s Program hosts a fundraiser every year to raise money for Agriculture in the Classroom, but this is the first time it will take the form of a music festival.

Jeff Parker, who plays mandolin for bluegrass duo Daily & Vincent, is headlining the event, which also includes performances from local bands Deep Blue Express, Deer Creek Boys, James River Cutups and the Epperson Brothers.

“We got the music and then we thought, you know, the event, we want it to be … kind of a twofold idea,” Tweedy says. “One, of course, to raise money. All the proceeds are going to go to Virginia Agriculture in the Classroom. And two, we want to promote agriculture here in the county and here in the state.”

To that end, vendors will include local 4-H livestock and Future Farmers of America (FFA) clubs, as well as local artisans and crafters. There also will be demonstrations of wool-spinning and tobacco twisting.

The Concord Happy Hearts, a senior citizen group, will be hosting a bake sale, with other food for sale from the Lyn-Dan Heights Ruritan Club, Nomad Coffee Company and the Uprooted food truck.

“The idea behind [Uprooted’s] food is they are farm-to-table and they use locally-sourced vegetables, meats, that are in season,” Tweedy says. “That’s pretty neat.”

Tickets to the festival are $20 in advance and $25 the day of the event. For more information, call (434) 332-5411, visit www.lynchburgtickets.com or search for “VA Farm Bureau Women – Campbell County” on Facebook.