The Madison County Hop Fest celebrates the past, present, and prosperous future of the hop industry in Madison County and throughout NYS.

The Madison County Hop Fest celebrates over 200 years of hop heritage that began in Madison County. It was in Madison County that James Coolidge from New England planted the 1st commercial hop yard on acres of farmland in Bouckville. He was also the first to transport hops to the New York City market in 1816. Thus, establishing a commercial agricultural connection between the hop fields of CNY and the agricultural commodity marketplace. (Cultural Resource Survey of Hop Heritage Sites in Madison County. Nell Ziegler, 2007. A survey funded by Preserve New York, a grant program of the Preservation League of New York State and the New York State Council on the Arts.) Many Madison County farmers followed in Coolidge’s footsteps turning over their fields into commercial hop yards as did the farmers from neighboring counties- Montgomery, Schoharie, Chenango, Otsego, Herkimer, and Oneida. The Madison County Hop Fest is a signature event for Madison County and New York State, as there are no other fests that can make the historic claim that New York State’s Hop Heritage began in their county. The Preservation Association of Central New York awarded the Madison County Historical Society with the 2021 CNY Heritage Award in recognition of the Annual Madison County Hop Fest.