Great Canadian Cheese Festival this weekend

Great Canadian Cheese Festival founder Georgs Kolesnikovs shared highlights and cheesy bites of June’s fourth annual festival

More than 3,000 cheese lovers are expected to sample and purchase artisan cheese from across Canada at next month’s Great Canadian Cheese Festival.

The fourth annual celebration of all things cheese is set for June 7-8 at the Crystal Palace in Picton. Award-winning artisan and farmstead cheese from coast to coast is showcased at this biggest cheese show in Canada.

The Canadian Cheese of the Year and many other prize winners in the Canadian Cheese Awards will be in the spotlight at the event. Consumers will be able to taste and purchase more than 125 different cheeses including Le Baluchon, the Cheese of the Year made by Fromagerie F.X. Pichet of Sainte-Anne-de-la-Pérade, Québec.

Marie-Claude Harvey, who owns the fromagerie with her husband, Michel Pichet, will be the guest of honour at Makers+Mongers, the Festival’s Saturday evening function celebrating the men and women who make and sell artisan cheese and artisan foods.

Cheesemakers, artisan food producers, small-batch wineries and craft breweries and other exhibitors and vendors have reserved 125 booths in the Crystal Palace, Prince Edward Curling Club, the new Artisan Foods Pavilion and Picton Fairgrounds making the event the biggest cheese show in Canada and one of the biggest artisan foods markets in Ontario.

Shain Jaffe and his wife Debbie Nightingale celebrate goats with decadent goat cheese chocolates, goat butter caramel corn, smooth and rich caramel sauce, and salted, chocolate dipped goat milk caramels. Haute Goat will be a tasty festival stop.

In addition to cheese and more cheese, artisan foods and beverages, the Artisan Cheese & Fine Food Fair on Saturday and Sunday, June 7-8, features new events for 2014 including sales of VQA wines by the bottle or case by wineries as part of the pilot project initiated by the Ontario government to promote locally-grown wines. You can rest and recover from all the sampling in the festival’s new Presentation Pavilion while listening to local musicians. The County Cider Company will also be at the event.

Seminars in the All you Need Is Cheese® Annex will be presented by Dairy Farmers of Canada as a bonus feature of the Artisan Cheese & Fine Food Fair. Guests will learn about the best in Canadian cheese at special presentations conducted by leading cheese educator Deborah Levy.

Returning aspects include the Festival’s own Cheese Dairy Farm featuring cows, goats, sheep and water buffalo and the Food Court featuring tasty eats prepared by Urban Herb, Picnic Food Truck and Seed to Sausage.

Sunday, June 8, is Family Day at the Cheese Fair with children admitted free of charge when accompanied by an adult.

In collaboration with three County farmers, Stonemill grew a test crop of rye in 2012. Last summer it harvested 120 tons of rye now being used in a variety of Stonemill artisan breads.

Cheese Fair adult admission includes:
Access to all sponsors, exhibitors and vendors – with close to 200 products to sample
10 tasting tickets for cheese, artisan foods, wine and beer, valued at $10
Souvenir festival insulated bag for your purchases, valued at $10
Glass for sampling wine, beer and cider
Admittance on first-come, first-served basis to cheese seminars presented by Dairy Farmers of Canada
Festival Dairy Farm, Food Court and free parking.

The advance ticket price is $36. At the event, the price is $45. There is no fee charged on online ticket purchases. Youth and child tickets for the Cheese Fair are available. All other festival events are age of majority only.

The Tutored Tasting presentations include how to pair artisan cheese with wine, how to pair artisan cheese with beer and a three-hour marathon tasting billed as You Be The Judge: Taste and score the 16 best cheeses in the Canadian Cheese Awards to determine the People’s Choice for Canadian Cheese of the Year. Separate tickets are required.

Some special events like Gastronomy on the Farm with Jamie Kennedy and Cooking with Cheese Class are already sold out. Still available are tickets for Tutored Tastings, Cheese Tours – one in Prince Edward County, the other in Bay of Quinte Region – and Makers+Mongers.

The Great Canadian Cheese Festival is produced by Cheese Lover Productions with the generous support of Celebrate Ontario. Dairy Farmers of Canada is Diamond Sponsor and Bay of Quinte Region is Gold Sponsor. Savvy Company is Presenting Partner.

Advance tickets are sold online at www.CheeseFestival.ca.

Book your tickets early for the Great Canadian Cheese Festival!