Local Food Alliance raises the local food bar
BY DANA DUGAN
Harvest festivals have been celebrated around the world for thousands of years around the time of the harvest moon. Neighbors, families and town folk gather to help reap the harvest and then to enjoy the tastes served up at long tables laden with all kinds of fresh produce and treats. As much a cultural event as a showcase for the work of farmers and cooks, a harvest festival is an annual rite of passage.
For the fourth year, Local Food Alliance, a program of the Sun Valley Institute, will present the Wood River Valley HarvestFest, Friday, Sept. 14, and Saturday, Sept. 15.
The event has several distinct features: a farm-to-table dinner featuring a four-course, 100-percent-local and seasonal meal built around fresh-picked produce, Bellevue-grown grains, pasture-raised meats and Idaho wines at the picturesque Nighthawk Farm in Bellevue. Before dinner, sample hors d’oeuvres featuring locally grown ingredients complimented by cocktails made with local spirits, seasonal fruit and fresh herbs. Mingle with friends and meet the farmers who produce the food.
The dinner will come from regional farms such as Agrarian Harvest, Pride of Bristol Bay, King’s Crown Farm, Squash Blossom Farm and Waterwheel Gardens, among others. There are limited tickets available.
On Saturday, the HarvestFest in downtown Hailey will be celebrated.
“One of my favorite events is the free Family Food Fair and Market at our headquarters at the Wood River Sustainability Center,” said Brenna Partridge, event coordinator. “It will be focused on interactive, educational, family-friendly activities and stations. It’s all about local food sustainability, health and wellbeing.”
The free fair will feature Syringa Mountain School’s Family Corral with hands-on and educational activities, which the school calls a “multisensory approach to learning—showing children what they can make with their own hands and some local raw ingredients.”
The Family Corral will feature an apple cider press, ice cream making, games, felting and more.
As well, Jamie Truppy, an integrative nutritionist, will offer advice, recipes and price ideas for school lunches.
There will also be a few vendors on hand, including Julie Johnson of NourishMe and Sylvie Doré of Redwood Fairy, Golden Bees, and Simeroi Springs beef jerky. Pride of Bristol Bay will deliver its Buyers Club catch.
Promoting their various and unique programs will be The Hunger Coalition’s Bloom Truck, the Wood River Community YMCA and the Trailing of the Sheep Festival (no sheep on site), along with Atkinsons’ Market, which will have free samples of its Desert Mountain grass-fed beef sliders. As well, there will be regional beer and wine available for purchase or with Taste Tour tickets.
The Taste Tour will feature sample dishes outside of 13 different restaurants, including CK’s Real Food, Dang Thai Cuisine, DaVinci’s, diVine Food & Wine, Cowboy Cocina, Jersey Girl, KB’s Hailey, Lago Azul, The Red Shoe, Sawtooth Brewery, The Smokey Bone BBQ, Zou 75, and Hailey Fire & Rescue chicken barbecue in The Mint Promenade.
“This is an opportunity to celebrate our local farmers, producers, small businesses and restaurants,” said Amy Mattias, LFA event producer liaison. “We want to get restaurants to step out of their comfort zone, try local food and work with products they’re not used to using throughout the year. We have 19 different farmers supplying food that we deliver to the restaurants.”
The Taste Tour is also aimed at persuading patrons to request organic and local foods.
“We should all be aware of what’s out there and how good it is,” Mattias said.
“This year, all the restaurants will get with their produce packing slips with all farmers’ logos and information. This will hopefully enable them to reorder in the future. The goal is to introduce local producers and chefs to the local small farmers.”
Among the tastes will be Italian meatballs at new participant Jersey Girl; sea bass from Garden Creek Farms in Challis served at Lago Azul; catfish from Fish Breeders of Idaho in Hagerman, at diVine; and a whole Lava Lake lamb barbecued at The Smokey Bone BBQ. DaVinci’s will have a vegetarian option with Ballard Family Dairy & Cheese’s Halloumi cheese with wheatberries from Hillside Ranch. Lago Azul will also have a vegetarian option with a veggie-stuffed jalapeño pepper, and The Smokey Bone will accompany its lamb with a hearty potato salad.
After the Taste Tour, participants will return to the HarvestFest headquarters at the Wood River Sustainability Center for a free street party with music by The Heaters.
Select regional wines and local beer will be available for purchase, along with hand-crafted desserts and fresh-brewed coffee by Hailey Coffee Company.
Tickets to The Elevated Table and The Taste Tour can be purchased at WRVHarvestfest.org.
The 2018 Wood River Valley HarvestFest is sponsored by Wills Toyota, KeyBank, Atkinsons’ Market, DL Evans Bank, Sun Valley Source, The Chamber, Lava Lake Lamb, Pride of Bristol Bay, American Capital Advisory, and Judy’s Design House.
