Does anyone go to food festivals? Local, national, where ever and whatever.
Around here we have a pumpkin show which is more about seeing really big pumpkins than it is about eating pumpkin goodies. And there’s a Sweet Corn festival where we go every year and fail to eat sweet corn.
There’s a tomato festival nearby that I’ve never been to. Lots of different rib and chili and ethnic cuisine fests. I’ve never gone.
I’m obsessing over tomatoes this year, so the tomato fests where you get to sample hundreds of varieties are so tempting.
I went to a tomato festival here in town last year, it was really fun. There were close to 200 different varieties of tomatoes to taste, and restaurants and chefs from all over the area competed to win a ‘Best use of tomato’ prize. There were some awesome foods to taste as well. I am pretty sure I will go again this year.
Not exactly a festival, but a harvest celebration here in Sonoma County is a favorite that my husband and I have attended 4 or 5 times now. The Harvest Fair Awards Night is always a great time. The best wines and foods in the area, for the tasting. We’ve never attended the actual Harvest Fair yet, maybe this year.
There are tons of others in this area, including Napa’s mustard festival and Gilroy’s garlic festival (that I haven’t gone to yet but really, really want to.)
We had the 111th rose parade & festival here in town yesterday, not a food festival, but it was a fun time (my first time catching it.)
And Petaluma has it’s famous butter and eggs parade & festival, another one I’ve still not attended, but really want to.
I think I tasted close to 40 different kinds, there were just so many, and I was really more interested in tasting the foods.
They were all delicious (I’m a tomato lover, too), but I do remember one called Cherokee Purple sticking out as a really yummy one. And then they kind of started blending together, so I headed back to sample more foods.
I should bring a little notebook this year to take notes.
Well, there’s the Gays Mills Apple Festival. Tons of fun, with a big flea market and lots and lots of apples from local orchards. Gays Mills is a bit of a SW Wisconsin hippie mecca. I had the best burrito in my life there last year from the co-op. I wouldn’t mind retiring there, I think. (Forty years from now, of course.)
More locally, there’s the Cobb Corn Roast, which is so small there is no webpage for it. It used to be the Cobb Corn Boil, but they never actually boiled any corn, and the Lions Club (who organize it) decided it would be best to change the name. Um, here’s the town sign. Very exciting, no?
Excellent! I have two Cherokee Purple plants this year. We decided to go the heirloom route and I’m nervous about the ones we’ve chosen.
Hippies with burritos is surprisingly appealing. Weird.
Ah, you must be speaking of the Circleville Pumpkin Show. Yeah, lame. Since I went to high school about 20 miles from Circleville, it’s like a reunion to me. And I hate the people I went to school with. So I no longer go. But if you’re in the mood for pumpkin burgers (good) and pumpkin pie on a cold fall night, it’s great.
Are you talking about the Reynoldsburg Tomato thing? I’ve been a couple times. From my recollection it’s not worth it. The typical carnies and fried food, hardly any tomatoes. But I could be wrong though, it’s been quite a few years.
I heard the London Strawberry thing is really good and there’s an ice cream festival of some sort . . .
The Jazz and Rib fest in Columbus is really good though!
I opened this thread to mention Gays Mills. How weird is that? We went there every year, because it’s close to my grandparents’ place. I’m innundated with memories of sunny, chilly Fall days and fresh apple cider.
The best part is going around to the orchards, and trying samples. That’s how I met my First True Apple Love: Jonathans. It’s hard to find straight-up Jonanthans, at least where I live now. Jonagolds, Jonamacs, and Ida Reds, yeah, but whence the Jonathan? sigh
There’s also the UBC Apple Festival in Vancouver BC every fall. They have a tasting area, apples for sale, trees (three varieties on one rootstock!), a cider press, baked goods, and more. Even without apples, the gardens are worth seeing.
Now I need to find food events here in the DFW area.
We have Taste of Chicago (which I’ve only been to once) and lots of smaller versions of it throughout the area. We usually don’t go, though. My husband gets nauseated by the multiple smells of food.
As more of a celebration for the return of the tourists to their home destination than an actual festival, Wisonsin Dells has a Wo-Zha-Wa festival every year. Theres a huge craft show and smaller farmer’s market. I trek up there every year for cheese curds made by the older women of the local Luthern Church.