Vermont Business MagazineThe Vermont Cheesemakers Festival will mark its ninth annual appearance on the shores of Lake Champlain at the historic Coach Barn at Shelburne Farms onJuly 16,2017, from 10 AM to 4 PMto celebrate the art of cheesemaking in Vermont. Attendees can meet cheesemakers and taste the cheeses of Vermont, enjoy the creations of artisan food producers, savor the fruits of wine, mead and cider production, and experience the skills of craft brewers and master distillers.
The festival has been chosen as a "Top Ten Summer Event in Vermont" by the Vermont Chamber of Commerce and was recently named as one of the "1000 experiences to have before you die" in the recent edition of "1000 Places to See in the United States and Canada Before You Die". This year, the event will include our returning platinum sponsors, Yankee Magazine, and the Vermont Dairy Promotion Council. For the first time, Cabot Creamery Cooperative will be a Platinum Sponsor of the Festival. Gold sponsors include Shelburne Farms, Vermont Creamery, Grafton Village Cheese Company, Accutech Packaging, the Good Food Foundation, and Provisions International and new gold sponsor, Kenyon Grills International located in Clinton, CT. New Silver sponsor include Ullmer's Dairy Equipment in Pulaski, WI.
Along with 45 Vermont cheesemakers, this year’s event will include over 90 food and beverage producers including 15 new exhibitors. Enjoy seemingly endless options for tasting, sampling, and pairing opportunities. For those looking to immerse themselves in the experience even further, this year we are offering special VIP tickets which will allow guests reserved seating at cheese workshops and cooking demos. VIP passes are available online nowuntilthe festival. In addition to admission to the workshops and demos, the VIP ticket will provide pass holders with valet parking, a separate entrance to the festival and a special swag bag.
The Vermont Cheesemakers Festival offers a wide variety of vendors and cheeses.
“The quality and range of the artisan cheese available in Vermontisastounding,” says Tom Bivins, Executive Director of the Vermont Cheese Council. “The festival allows food lovers to connect with our craft food producers, and the artisans responsible for their favorite cheeses. Attendees get to experience the rural connections, communities, working landscape, and the tastes thatmakesVermont such a remarkable place to live and work.”
This year, the festival will offer FAC Talks. Similar to the well-known TED Talk, FAC Talks stand for Farmstead & Artisan Cheese Talks. The FAC Talks will focus on cheesemakers sharing their stories and experience as dairy farmers and farmstead cheesemakers while sampling their cheeses. Along with the FAC Talks, the festival will have cooking demos presented by Platinum sponsor Yankee Magazine’s food editors Amy Traverso and Aimee Seavey, both preparing recipes for summer entertaining, as well as Jessica Battilana, a native Vermont chef hailing from San Francisco. Her latest cookbook will be released in October. Ms. Battilana will be preparing recipes from Corn, a Short Stack Editions book focused on summer’s favorite food. The final cooking demonstrations will also be presented by the chefs of NECI on Main and LaBrioche, the flagship restaurants of New England Culinary Institute.
Tickets are $60 per person for general admission to the festival or $100 for the VIP pass.Tickets are available online atvtcheesefest.com. The Festival sells out well in advance of the event date, so early ticket reservations are encouraged.
The Vermont Cheesemakers Festival is presented by the Vermont Cheese Council and sponsored by our Platinum Sponsors: Yankee Magazine, Cabot Creamery Cooperative, and the Vermont Dairy Promotion Council, along with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets. Gold Sponsors include Shelburne Farms, Vermont Creamery, Grafton Village Cheese Company, Good Food Foundation, Accutech, and Provisions International. Silver Sponsors include Cellars at Jasper Hill, Farms for City Kids/Spring Brook Farm, Consider Bardwell Farm, Vermont Farmstead Cheese Company, Maplebrook Farm, and Ullmer's Dairy Equipment. In-kind sponsors include Vermont Smoke & Cure, King Arthur Flour, Woodstock Farmers Market, Sidehill Farm, Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association, Culligan, Black River Produce, Kenyon Grills International, and Vermont Beef Industry Council. Media Sponsors include Culture Magazine and Edible Green Mountains.
Source: Vermont Cheese Fest 6-13-2017