FEAST! 2021 Festival Dates

Saturday, Dec. 11

10am - 4pm

Mayo Civic Center, Rochester, MN  

 

 

 

What's in store?

 

Holiday Hacks Cooking Demo with Beth Dooley Saturday, Nov. 20 3:00 - 3:45 pm Join James Beard-Award Winning cookbook author Beth Dooley for tips on how easy—and delicious—it is to prepare your favorite holiday dishes with local ingredients. After her demo, enjoy a Live Q&A with Beth! Free registration for this Zoom event enters you in a drawing for an amazing giveaway of a copy of Beth's latest cookbook, The Perennial Kitchen, along with selected local products from her demo.  WATCH RECORDING HERE
	Join us for the Festival on Saturday, Dec. 11 Meet a wonderful array of local farms and food businesses.
Enjoy sampling unique artisan-crafted cheese, jam, sauces and more. Stock up on your favorites, and discover fantastic finds for holiday gifts for foodies!
	Craft Wine / Cider / Beer Fest With the purchase of a wristband ticket, attendees over age 21 will have access to our fest within the fest sampling area, as well as the ability to purchase up to six bottles of wine from Minnesota Farm Wineries!
Location: We're back to our comfortable spot in the Exhibit Hall!

 

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Highlights from the 2019 festival:

Cooking demos [more info]

 10:30 — Jena Erie, People's Food Co-op Rochester Kitchen Manager

 11:30 — Erik Kleven, Head chef and co-owner, Bleu Duck Kitchen

 12:30 — Shari Mukherjee, MasterChef Season 10 Top 6 contestant 

   1:30 — Chef Adrian, Tonic Local Kitchen & Juice Bar

   2:30 — Beth Dooley, cookbook author and James Beard Award Winner

 

 

 

FEAST! People's Choice voting

FEAST! attendees helped crown the 2019 People's Choice Award, while entering for a chance to win a gift basket full of local foods goodies!

 

 

Children’s activities

Veggie Grand Prix race track! Craft table! And, Mayo Clinic dietitians hosted the Kids' Choice Veggie Sampling table where they could sample and vote with emojis!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Popup Rochester Farmers Market Attendees saw what the winter farmers market had to offer and met their farmers.	Wine and hard cider Samples & sales were allowed for wristband ticket holders (6 bottle limit)

 

 

Live music!

10a-12p: Mary DuShane and Nick Jordan, with vintage songs from a range of genres. Mary, the original fiddler on Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion radio show, teamed up with Nick on vocals, guitar, mandolin, flute, whistle and foot percussion. Together they presented a lively array of vintage old time, Cajun and swing songs, with Appalachian and some Irish fiddle tunes.

12p-2p: CBB Jazz Combo, featuring Nathan Davidson on saxophone and Dan "The Piano Man" Rengstorf on keys.

2p-4p:  Jake Ilika and Joel Ward Guitar Duo offered their smooth guitar grooves and vocal harmonies

 

 

 

String Survey*

FEAST! attendees weaved yarn through the thought questions to contribute to the visual display! 

FEAST! planners have always worked to engage the community around the issue of local foods beyond the simple act of buying local, and were excited to have the Background Stories "String Survey" to provide a visual means for getting to the deeper level. String Survey asked attendees to weave their own yarn as they responded to survey questions, for a collective display that represents attendees’ thoughts about local foods. Background Stories founder Arlene Birt has participated in installations around the world with her work intersecting art, design, and visual storytelling.

 

Vegetable Alfombra*

This life-size vegetable design (alfombra means carpet!) was constructed on the floor out of local veggies from area farmers. Artist Susan Waughtal curated the project, creating a design in advance, and allowing festival attendees to take part in creating the giant mandala-like design. After the festival, the veggies were donated to Channel One Food Bank!

 

*Read more about it on the FEAST! blog

 

 

Videographer 

Ross Ballinger was on hand throughout the festival to document the creation of the alfombra and the string survey, capturing testimonials from thoughtful participants and spontaneous fun of all kinds!

 

Radio Broadcast

We had Minnesota 97.5 there, doing a live remote broadcast from 10-noon, ready to talk to folks about local foods raves & faves!

 

Come PLAY with your FOOD!

 

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