A tough stalk to swallow: Financial challenges, rising costs lead NEPM to discontinue Hadley Asparagus Festival

HADLEY — New England Public Media announced this week that it will no longer produce the NEPM Asparagus Festival, an event that has been held for more than a decade on the Town Common, citing a loss of $875,000 in federal funding over the summer.

“This decision was made by NEPM’s leadership team and board of directors after months of careful evaluation and reflection,” the organization wrote in a press release.

The loss of federal funding was about 10% of NEPM’s annual operating budget and has created a significant and immediate financial challenge, according to the organization.

“At the same time, the cost of producing free, large‑scale community events has continued to rise: event production expenses, insurance rates, permitting requirements and the operational complexity of staging a festival of this scale have all increased beyond what is sustainable for a nonprofit public media organization,” NEPM wrote.

The first WGBY Asparagus Festival was held in 2013 at the former Seven Sisters Market Bistro and Long Hollow Bison Farm. The 2025 event was canceled due to weather and the event was also not held during the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.

“While this was not an easy decision, it reflects NEPM’s responsibility to protect our core mission,” the organization wrote. “The financial realities facing public media today mean focusing our resources on serving western Massachusetts with trusted, independent journalism and programming that supports informed, connected communities.”

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