QUINCY — Leia Watkins, chair of the Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day committee, said the purpose of the annual Quincy celebration is the same as it’s been since the first one in 1981. And it’s right there in the name.  

“The whole point is to connect the farmer with the consumer,” she said.  

Farmer Consumer Awareness Day 2026 is Sept. 12.  

Farmer-Consumer Awareness Day was founded to help people who aren’t farmers get a better understanding of agriculture, and where and how the food they buy is produced. Information is more readily available now, but many people still don’t understand, she said, and along with all the accurate information out there, there’s plenty of disinformation.  

“We’re doing our best to combat it,” she said.  

Traditionally the FCAD parade is led by the Farmer of the Year; the owners of DeHoog Dairy are the 2026 honorees. Yesenia James, a longtime FCAD volunteer who passed away in February, will be remembered with the Honorary Farmer award. 

The annual FCAD parade walks, rides and rolls down Central Avenue South at 10 a.m. and features everything from Quincy’s four elementary schools to community organizations, cool cars, cool tractors and farm machinery that fills the street. The parade ends at Quincy Middle School, where most of the afternoon’s events are scheduled. 

One longtime event, the bus tours of Quincy-area farms, has been canceled, Watkins said, due to a lack of volunteers. But another longtime event may be returning. 

“We’re hoping to have the tractor pull back this  year. Fingers crossed,” Watkins said. 

The tractor pull is pretty self-explanatory – tractors pull a sled down the course, with the weight getting heavier and heavier as it goes.  

Traditionally information booths and vendors set up in the QMS gym and traditionally spill out onto the playfields behind the school. Some booths are sponsored by local organizations and government entities, and for 2026 include the Quincy-Columbia Basin Irrigation District and the Bureau of Reclamation. 

There is one exception when it comes to vendor and information booths. 

“The produce sale, as always, will be going on,” Watkins said.  

The Quincy FFA Alumni produce sale always sets up in the QMS parking lot. It features fruits and vegetables grown on farms in the Quincy area. Proceeds from the sale go to Quincy FFA chapter activities. 

The Quincy Rotary chapter will be serving a fundraising lunch in the QMS cafeteria beginning at noon. Like the produce sale, the menu features food produced in the Quincy area, from the barbecued beef to the corn to the fresh apples.  

Cool cars and other cool vehicles will start parking on the QMS playfield at 9 a.m. for the annual Quincy Chamber of Commerce car show. Participants have the option to ride in the FCAD parade, and a lot of cool car owners do. Chamber Director Catalina Blancas said entry into the parade does not give automatic entry to the car show – the car show requires its own registration.  

Contests are part of the car show in addition to awards. There’s a doughnut-eating contest, Blancas said, and car owners will get the chance to show what their sound systems can do in the audio contest.  

The annual quilt show will be in the QMS gym, with attendees getting a chance to vote for their favorites. Quilters are eligible for awards in 10 categories, with a separate category for youth. 

Putting on FCAD is a big job, and Watkins said it’s more difficult due to the lack of volunteers. 

“We really need more volunteers to come in and help out,” she said. 

    Junior cheerleaders lead a chant for the Jacks during Quincy’s 2025 FCAD parade. The parade is Sept. 12 this year.
  

    A Quincy FFA student loads potatoes into the car of a buyer at the FFA’s annual produce sale, part of the annual FCAD celebration.
  

    Granny came in from the farm to ride in the 2025 FCAD parade.
  

    Spectators at the FCAD car show in 2025 check out a rat rod. The car show – and FCAD – is Sept. 12.
  

    Quincy’s FCAD parade always features big tractors, including one so big it has floor-to-ceiling windows.