The Eastham Turnip Festival is different this year as almost everything is because of the pandemic. There will be no turnip contest and no free sampling of turnip cuisine.

For 2020 the festival becomes the Taste of Turnip Day. Saturday, November 21 local restaurants and businesses will feature foods made with turnips. Some of the dishes will be turnip soup, turnip side dishes, turnip entrees, and turnip ice cream.

These local businesses will be joining in turnip day:

• Alley BBQ in Orleans
• Basco Grill in Eastham
• The Beacon Room in Orleans
• Brickhouse in Eastham
• Brine in Eastham
• C*Shore in Wellfleet
• Cape Sea Grille in Harwich Port
• Cottage Street Bakery in Orleans
• Fairway Restaurants & Pizzeria in Wellfleet
• Good Eats on 6 in Eastham
• Hog Island Brewery in Orleans
• Hole in One in Eastham and Orleans
• Karoo Restaurant in Eastham
• Laura & Tony’s Kitchen in Eastham
• The Local Break in Eastham
• The Local Scoop in Orleans
• Mac’s Market & Kitchen in Eastham
• Mahoney’s in Orleans
• Red Barn in Eastham
• Sam’s Deli in Eastham
• Sunbird in Orleans
• Toast to the Coast in Orleans
• Whalewalk Inn in Eastham (for guests only)
• Whisk in Orleans

You can buy your own Eastham turnips to make your own dishes at Hemeon’s Farm in Harwich Port, Eastham Superette and Friend’s Marketplace in Orleans.

The local craft fair and holiday marketplace has gone virtual this year and you can find items on the festival website. You’ll find items like local honey, local chocolates, organic cranberries, local farm raised oysters, jams, jellies, flower arrangements, granola, packaged seeds, fresh produce, turnip t-shirts, hats, Eastham merchandise, prints, dog merchandise, and books from local authors. The virtual shop also includes jewelry, turnip pottery, home decor, pet-themed t-shirts and bags, placemats, homemade soaps, beach themed small Christmas trees, notecards, knit hats, sea turtle t-shirts and notecards, soy candles, local photographer greeting cards and prints, 3D printed jewelry, cutting boards, mini zen gardens, organic skin and beauty items, fabric animals, stone jewelry, capes, shawls, local photos, driftwood art, totes, face masks, pine needle baskets, silkscreened sweat shirts, recycled paper jewelry, perfumes, shark tooth plaques, metalwork decorative items and more.

The festival is making the most out of this year’s restrictions by coming up with a host of virtual activities. These include a video tracing the history of the festival, a turnip cooking demonstration, a trip to a local farm that grows turnips, performances by jugglers, puppeteers and magic balloon shows on Lower Cape TV, Channel 22 and on their website, November 21-28. There’s also a virtual elementary school art show, a story walk around the grounds of the Eastham Library, a take-out craft stand and turnip activity pages on the festival website.

For more information on the event see the festival website.

Turnips photo from the USDA SNAP program. The site has incredibly useful information on the nutritional value of all vegetables