If you’ve been reading my blog for the past year or so, you’re likely aware that I kind of love Stratford, ON. Stratford is known these days amongst the international teeny bopper set as the hometown of Justin Bieber but Stratford has been holding it down for YEARS as a destination for great theatre and more recently as a culinary tourism destination in Ontario.
This year’s festival promises to be even more fun than last year. The festival will take place in Stratford on September 24 and 25th. There’s a great mix of both free and paid workshops, plus the marketplace and many other opportunities for food-related fun. They’ve even added some well-known names to the line-up including the Food Network’s Chuck Hughes and Connie de Sousa from Top Chef Canada. If you’re coming from Toronto there is even a special Savour Stratford bus to make your trip that much easier.
To learn more about the festival click here.
To read more about my trip to last year’s festival check out this blog post.
Here are a few of the events that I’ll definitely be checking out this year…
Saturday
Wine and Cheese – A guided workshop with Ruth Klahsen of Monforte Dairy and Chris Giuliani of Chateau des Charmes where we’ll discover some great wine and cheese pairings. Monforte cheese is amazing and CdC wines are wonderful as well so this will be a great session.
The Craft of Charcuterie – This year I’m all about all things charcuterie so I was delighted to see this on the schedule. The workshop is hosted by Connie de Sousa (you’d know her from Top Chef Canada) and Fred de Martines of Perth Pork Products (great stuff).
Ribs in the Square – Who doesn’t love a good BBQ? The Savour Stratford team will be setting up a long communal table in the square and the award-winning Boss Hog’s BBQ team will be serving up ribs, cole slaw, and baked beans.
Sunday
Farmers’/Artisan Market – This is happening on Saturday as well but I’ll likely check it out in depth on Sunday (I’ll go repeatedly on Saturday for my apple fritter fix… they are addictive). Stock up on local goodness before you head back to the city (and by city I mean Toronto, but I’m biased).
Savour Stratford Tasting – This is THE marquee event of the weekend. 30+ culinary teams will setup under the main tent and feature the local goodness of Stratford. I attended this event last year and it was great with a really chill atmosphere.
I’ll be in Stratford on Saturday and Sunday. If you can’t make it down follow me on my personal Twitter account () for a play-by-play of the weekend. I look forward to seeing you there!
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I am so bummed I didn’t know about this sooner. I would have loved to have gone. We were in St. Jacob’s last weekend so not sure I can justify another trip this weekend. Lol! We had Stratford pegged for next month. My daughter loves the town and a particular bookstore there. Maybe I’ll plan this for next year. Not that far of a drive for me. We’re near WIndsor. Looking forward to seeing pics. Our local AppleFest won’t seem quite so exciting now.
I’ve wanted to check out St Jacobs for years now but haven’t made it. Definitely check out Savour Stratford next year. My post should show up in the next few days.