ABERDEEN — The public is invited to learn about food production and cutting-edge agricultural research on Wednesday at a family-friendly event with a fair atmosphere, hosted at University of Idaho’s Aberdeen Research and Extension Center.

UI Extension’s annual Twilight Tour will be making its return after a two-year absence due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event, scheduled for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. features a complimentary meal, games, door prizes, giveaways, live music, horse-drawn wagon rides, activity trailers and booths devoted to food production and agricultural research.

The Twilight Tour is free to attend. It drew a crowd of more than 400 people when it was last hosted in 2019 in Aberdeen. The location of the tour usually alternates between the UI Kimberly Research and Extension Center and the Aberdeen facility.

“It’s an opportunity for us to interface with the community to share some of the new research that we’re doing with the general public and to help people get a taste of agriculture in the local area,” said Chad Jackson, operations manager of the Aberdeen Research and Extension Center. “We have a lot of things that benefit society that we do here, and we like to share it with the community and give them an opportunity to have some fun.”

Barbecued chicken sandwiches from Stokes Market will be served, along with salads prepared by Tooley’s Gas and Grill.

The first 100 children who arrive will receive a free U of I piggy bank to help them save for college. Raffle tickets will be given to participants, who will have the chance to win door prizes throughout the evening. U of I T-shirts, sweatshirts and an official UI cornhole set will be among the prizes offered.

Swag will be available from area agricultural businesses. Prizes will also be awarded to winners of a potato sack race and a strongman contest, as well as for those who get all of the necessary stamps on a passport by visiting booths or participate in a scavenger hunt involving the booths.

Researchers will offer activities at certain booths. Pamela Hutchinson, a UI Extension potato cropping systems weed scientist, offers a perennial favorite booth, serving foods made from edible weeds, including purslane salad.

The 4-H and USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service activity trailers will be at the event, as will the Lamb Weston fry truck. The Idaho Wheat Commission, Idaho Barley Commission and Idaho Potato Commission will also be represented. Derek Tilley, head of the Aberdeen USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Center, will perform live music, and horse-drawn wagon rides touring the UI Native Plant Domestication Program’s research plots will be offered throughout the event.

This will be the seventh time the tour has been hosted in Aberdeen, which is home to the U of I wheat breeding program, USDA-ARS potato and barley breeding programs, USDA-NRCS Plant Materials Center, UI Native Plant Domestication Program, the Idaho Wheat Quality Laboratory, small grains and potato pathology programs and a cropping systems and alternative crops program. The center is also home to the National Small Grains Germplasm Collection, where wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice and wild grain samples from all over the world are preserved and grown.