Now in its eight year, Waterford Harvest Festival will make a colourful, tasty and aromatic return to the streets of Waterford from September 9th to September 11th.
New to this year’s festival line-up includes the Harvest Fit Food and Wellness area, the Harvest Blaa Eating World Championships, Sunset Seaweed Foraging, Tapas River tours, Iyer’s Pop-up restaurant and the Flahavan’s Harvest brunch.
As a city and county that takes huge pride in its food producers, this year’s festival will also shine the spotlight on its “food heroes”, the people who grow, cultivate, harvest, produce, prepare, promote and serve some of the country’s best food.
Waterford, Ireland’s oldest city, boasts 1100 years of food heritage and will pay homage to that proud tradition with festival markets, harvest kitchen, a health and wellness seminar and an opportunity to “Meet the Makers.”
Tommie Ryan, Festival Director, “What we love about the Harvest Festival is that while the focus is on good food, equally important are the people behind it. Waterford and the wider region have so many hard working, creative and gifted producers who share a passion for good food. It’s a labour of love for them and you can almost taste the passion in the food they produce.”
“This year we have retained many of the events that were hugely popular in previous years such as the EAT Waterford Taste Experience, the Big Taste Tent, EnterpRISING Food Market, Harvest Kitchen, SuperValu Food Academy Village and Viking Rocks Craft Beer Festival.”
Ballybricken, affectionately known as the ‘top of the town’, was traditionally the hub of Waterford’s livestock and bacon curing industries. The area will enjoy a broader portfolio of events this year and be shrouded in the tantalising sights, smells and sounds of the Ballybricken Fair, Junior HQ and Farm to Fork.
The story of the Blaa goes back to the 1690’s, when the French Huguenots arrived in Ireland introducing white flour and their baking skills. Over 300 years later, it remains a firm staple, not just of the Waterford diet, but of thousands of Irish diaspora scattered throughout the world. A proud Waterford foodstuff and a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) product, the blaa has inspired a new generation of bakers.
Sarah Richards of the Seagull Bakery, an artisan bakery which specialises in naturally fermented sourdough breads, will host The Good Bread demonstration on the Millennium Plaza, while Dermot Walsh of Walsh’s Bakehouse, a third generation baker, will oversee the Harvest Blaa Eating World Championships.
There are over 100 events taking place with 80 of those free for all the family to enjoy.
All roads lead to Waterford for the 8th Waterford Harvest Festival from Friday, September 9th to Sunday, September 11th.
To find out more the Waterford Harvest Festival full programme of events is available on www.waterfordharvestfestival.ie. Be sure to keep up to date on all things Harvest Fest by checking it out on Facebook and Twitter #Harvestfest16