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Thousands of participants enjoy new recipe for Taste festival

Dates for the bachelorette party and Taste event made a perfect match up for an afternoon of fun.

Photos and story by Olivia Timm
Taste Community Grown took on a new flavour this year, serving up one of the County’s favourite events with a little change on the side.

The wine and culinary festival took place, for the first time, at historic Camp Picton, in the Loch Sloy hangers and the change in venue was not the only difference.

The event had something for everybody – from beer and wine and plenty of food – to jewellry, arts, crafts, live entertainment and family fun for an event bustling with locals and tourists alike.

The event was organized by a new crew this year. Lyndsay Richmond, Dawn Stafrace and Sonya Szabo are the faces behind Ephra Events, a local event planning company.

Stafrace said the group decided to change the location from the Crystal Palace to Loch Sloy ‘simply to switch it up’ – and it worked well, with about 3,000 people arriving to eat, drink and be entertained.

“Loch Sloy is such a great opportunity for space, it is approximately the same price and there is tons of parking.”

She was not the only one who agreed the new location was a successful choice.

Vader’s Maple Syrup has been a part of Taste for several years, and Sue Vader says the new location provided a lot of character.

“It is like one-stop shopping. You have everything in one place.”

Among the 72 vendors that participated, there were a host of companies that came out for the first time.

Jocelyn Buggie, of Sunnydale Farms, was one of them.

“They dropped the price to make it more family-friendly and they brought in more farmers.”

There were several new additions from the County’s burgeoning brewing industry such as 555 Brewing Company and Prince Eddy’s.

Drew Wallenburg discusses what’s brewing.

Drew Wallenburg, co-owner of the County Canteen and 555, says that except for one more event next month, Taste wraps up the end of their festival season nicely.

He said their first Taste experience was a success, with lines of people going to the booth for top-ups and draining their kegs within the first two hours.

In the midst of the busy event was a bachelorette party – a group of women dressed in pink and purple enjoying the afternoon. Bride-to-be, Joanna, said the event just happened to fall on the weekend they were planning on throwing the party.

Cressy Mustard one of more than 70 vendors at the show

The Cressy Mustard Company booth combined tasty offerings with family fun. Sarah Terpstra created the company about four years ago, and the booth was run by her daughter Shelby and friend Zoe Cortesis.

Glen Wallis had a booth set up to promote his company The Cold Plate Home Design. He also operates the Food To Share program in the County. His design business is located on site, so he says it was a natural decision for him to be a part of Taste.

As well as the many vendors lining the inside of the hangar there was live entertainment every hour and several workshops.

Alex Currie, from Pyramid Ferments, taught participants how to prepare small batch kombucha.

Gavin North, of Honey Pie Hives and Herbals, took the stage next, showing how to get wine from honey. Katy McIntyre showed the audience how to make kids snacks using local foods and Rick Szabo, of the Vic Cafe, gave the inside scoop on how to make cafe-quality coffee at home. The final workshop saw Tamara Segal, from Hawthorn Herbals, and chef Chris Byrne, teaching how to make great food from PEC’s wild edible plants.

Music was also provided by DJ Ombudsman Sound.

“The idea is that all of the vendors are at a level playing field because there is not really an inside or outside, they are all together. I think it is really great,”

said organizer Lyndsay Richmond. “In the past, it was more of a visitor experience and it was not as community oriented.”

“It is a nice high-end event showing off the tastes of the County,” added Stafrace.

 

Filed Under: Featured ArticlesLocal NewsWhat's To Eat?Wineries-Cider-Breweries

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