“When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”

That quote by John Muir is what Chimacum Corner Farmstand’s Katy McCoy thinks of when she contemplates the term “interdependence.”

And in the agricultural Chimacum community, where the land, farmers, cooks, merchants and consumers all have necessary roles to fill, interdependence is part of everyday life.

“Interdependence is about the ways folks in a rural community rely on each other, and how we rely on the landscape that feeds us,” said Crystie Kisler of Finnriver Farm and Cidery.

That sustaining network is celebrated annually at the Inter-Dependence Day Celebration, which is now in its seventh year and takes place July 15.

This year, the festival, held at the Finnriver Orchard & Cider Garden, is focusing on the heritage of the Chimacum community by also celebrating the 100th birthday of George Huntingford, patriarch of the Huntingford dairy family.

HERITAGE

The Inter-Dependence Day Celebration started at Chimacum Corner Farmstand in 2010 to mark its opening. “We used it as a grand opening party,” said McCoy. “Then it continued and each year it grew.” The party moved next door to Finnriver last year, which offers a larger space that’s better suited to large crowds.

The event features live music, games for kids, food from local vendors, a talent show and, as of last year, an outdoor movie.

Before that movie screens (this year it’s “Shaun the Sheep”), a slideshow featuring Huntingford’s life and the evolution of Chimacum agriculture is to be shown.

“He is our eldest elder,” said Kisler. “He represents that long-lived record of how this community has grown and changed,” she said.

There also is to be free carrot cake.

“Word is, carrot cake is his favorite, so carrot cake it’s going to be,” said McCoy. The all-organic cake is provided by Chimacum Corner Farmstand, made by baker Jen Brown. There is to be six sheets of cake, McCoy said, to spell “George.”

“Celebrating George’s birthday gives us a chance to witness and appreciate our history while enjoying the creativity and abundance of our evolving rural community,” said Kisler.

MAGICAL

One of the special events at the annual celebration is the talent show. McCoy said she tends to get nervous every year because not enough people have signed up for the show in advance, but it always ends up working out every year.

“It always ends up being kind of magical,” she said.

“The talent show is very magical,” Kisler said, echoing McCoy. “Folks come out of the hills and valleys and woods that have all sorts of surprising talents.”

Any family-friendly talents that can be performed in five minutes are invited, Kisler said. “We’re looking for skits, song, magic, movement, stories, poems, jokes, animal tricks or anything really.”

Sign-up sheets are at Chimacum Corner Farmstand and also at Finnriver Orchard and Cider Garden. People can also sign up by emailing Aba Kiser at abakismusic@gmail.com. Volunteers are still sought for the event, and people can sign up for that as well. Volunteers are needed for parking (4-6 p.m.), movie screen setup (3-4:40 p.m.), cleanup (9-9:30 p.m.) and post-movie help (11 p.m.).

“It is a true privilege to be working in a community such as Chimacum, where interdependence is appreciated and nurtured,” said McCoy. And that, she noted, is reason enough to throw a party.