Feb 28, 2022

Tad Kuntz is recognized with Pennsylvania Grower of the Year Award

Orchardist Tad Kuntz has received the Grower of the Year Award from the State Horticultural Association of Pennsylvania.

For 30 years, Kuntz has been the orchard and farm market manager at Masonic Village in Elizabethtown. He has been credited with bringing the farm market back from near closure. The remodeled and enlarged the market is now a booming business with a café and ice cream shop.

Early in the pandemic, when residents of the Masonic Village retirement home were not allowed to leave the campus, Kuntz developed a program to deliver fruits, vegetables and other groceries to them.

Kuntz served on the horticultural association’s board of directors from 2012 to 2020, including two years as president. He now serves as the chairman of the group’s Extension Committee.

Kuntz worked on his family’s Adams County orchard while growing up. He joined Masonic Village after graduating from Delaware Valley College, now a university.

Kuntz married Heidi Boyd at the farm market in 2018. He has two daughters and a stepdaughter.

Tad Kuntz, right, is presented with the Grower of the Year Award by Pennsylvania Ag Secretary Russell Redding. The presentation took place during the annual banquet at the Mid-Atlantic Fruit & Vegetable Convention in Hershey, Pennsylvania. Photo: Gary Pullano