The Canadian Cheese of the Year and many other prize winners in the Canadian Cheese Awards will be in the spotlight at the fourth annual Great Canadian Cheese Festival on June 7-8 in Picton, Ontario.
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.
Le Baluchon: Canadian Cheese of the Year.
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 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.
In addition to cheese and more cheese, artisan foods and beverages, the Artisan Cheese & Fine Food Fair on Saturday and Sunday, June 7 and 8, features:
- New for 2014: 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.
- New for 2014: Rest and recover from all the sampling in the Festival's new Presentation Pavilion while listening to local musicians.
- New topics: Seminars in the All you Need Is Cheese® Annex presented by Dairy Farmers of Canada as a bonus feature of the Artisan Cheese & Fine Food Fair. Learn about the best in Canadian cheese at special presentations conducted by leading cheese educator Deborah Levy.
- The Festival's own Cheese Dairy Farm featuring cows, goats, sheep and water buffalo.
- A 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 when accompanied by an adult.
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 required.
Special events like Gastronomy on the Farm with Jamie Kennedy and Cooking with Cheese Class are 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.
Picton Fairgrounds is located in the heart of Prince Edward County, south of Belleville in Bay of Quinte Region. One hour from Kingston, two hours from Toronto, three hours from Ottawa and New York State, and less than four hours from Montreal.
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. In order to assure a high-quality experience for consumers and producers, ticket sales will be limited, so don't delay. Save money and avoid the line-up at the door by purchasing tickets in advance.
THE GREAT CANADIAN CHEESE FESTIVAL
June 7-8, 2014, Picton, Ontario
1.866.865.2628
http://www.CheeseFestival.ca
Source: Great Canadian Cheese Festival
