The fifth anniversary Finger Lakes Cheese Festival is slated for Saturday July 23rd, 2016 from 10:00am-5:00pm at Sunset View Creamery in Odessa, NY, just east of Watkins Glen and south of Ithaca. Sunset View is a founding member of the Finger Lakes Cheese Alliance, which puts on this annual family-focus event. The Planning Committee is excited to announce many new additions to this year's festival.
Featuring new vendors, new activities and many generous local businesses and organizations as sponsors. the event features a full farm market featuring all the creameries of the Finger Lakes Cheese Alliance and many local food and farm vendors. Fingerlakes beer, wine and cider producers will be offering samples at the event, and the cheese and beverage pairing seminars have been expanded to 120 seats each to accommodate our growing event.
For the kids, there will be a kids' craft corner, Barnyard Olympics, petting zoo, goat milking and games. For the whole family, there will be music all day, featuring Sons of a Beach, Bob & Dee and The Tarps. New this year is the guided milking parlor tour which will run hourly four times through the event. There will be also be self-guided farm tours and hayrides for all to enjoy. Special thanks to The Watkins Glen/Montour Falls Lions Club, The Spirit of Schuyler, and the Odessa Fire Department for their generous assistance.
In addition to all the great activities, there will be plenty to eat, sample and buy. Food vendors to suit every palate will be at the festival, including Global Taco, FLX Weinery, Macarolin and Burke’s Bar-b-cue. There will be wines from Hector Wine Company, Lakewood Vineyards, Americana Winery, Stever Hill Vineyards and JR Dill winery, local ciders from Blue Toad Hard Cider and Eve’s Cidery, and beer from craft brewers Seneca Lodge Brewing and Climbing Bines Hop Farm & Brewery. Of course the freshest milk will also be available. Come taste where our great cheeses all begin!
Attendees can also enjoy the Pairing Seminars beginning at noon. These seminars will be led by sommelier and wine writer Holly Howell and will pair Alliance cheeses with wines, beers and ciders of the Associate Members of the Alliance. We have expanded these seminars to accommodate 120 attendees for a fee of $2 each per seminar per person.
Other popular activities include the Cooking with Cheese Seminar with Chef Christopher Bates of FLX Weinery at 10:30. This year the cheesemaking class will be led by Chef Brud Holland from Finger Lakes Made at 3:30pm.
Along with the food and drink, the Alliance has invited their neighbor artisans and farms to participate in the event, so there will also be farm produce and products, along with locally made products and wares.
"There will be something for everyone." explains Carmella Hoffman, owner of Sunset View Creamery and member of the festival's planning committee. "Think of it as a huge summer family bar-b-que and farmers market all wrapped up into one!"
Attendees are encouraged to bring a cooler in which to keep their purchases. A full schedule of events and vendors is available on the Cheese Festival website, www.flxcheese.com or on the Cheese Festival section of the Alliance's Facebook page. Updates, changes and new vendors will be announced on Facebook as well.
