Kitchenfest keeps on rolling
Festival includes 120 events spread over 39 venues
As it heads into its fifth year, KitchenFest! is showing no signs of slowing down.
“It’s the little festival that keeps chugging along,” said Margie Beaton from the Gaelic College, which is behind the event.
With more than 120 events spread over 39 venues, the mix of concerts, pubs and special performances is attracting visitors from all over and Beaton couldn’t be more pleased.
“So far so good and it’s been a really fun initiative for the college and our partners,” said Beaton of the festival which begins June 29 and continues until July 7.
“We’ve been doing our due diligence with market research and we’re really pleasantly surprised with something that is still really young and just how engaged people are and how far they’re coming from outside the target. It’s surprising when you hear of someone coming from across the country or from one of the states or further abroad and this would be their instigator for the trip. That’s really rewarding and we’re hopeful for more of that.
“Now we’re seeing people wanting the information earlier because people are planning their trip around the festival so it’s been really encouraging.”
Having a successful festival has meant growth and working in partnership with other institutions and helping them to further succeed as well.
One example is the historic Glendale Fiddle Festival. Kitchenfest has partnered with Glendale and as a result, the outdoor event will continue to go on this year and include a square dance in the evening with a special guest. Both events will take place on Saturday, July 7 with the concert running from 3-6 p.m. and the square dance from 9 p.m.-12 a.m.
“We may have lost a bit of our outdoor concert tradition in some ways — some of the old concerts have had to go by the wayside so we’ve partnered to help with that,” said Beaton. “We think it’s a great way to end off the festival and we’ll close out the big concert on the field hopefully with sunshine but we’ll go ahead rain or shine and there will be a big square dance in their hall right there with Ashley MacIsaac in the night.”
KitchenFest! has also partnered with the Highland Village in Iona to include such events as milling frolics, a guided storytelling tour and celidhs as well as with the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, which will include a bagpiper on the Skyline Trail on Wednesday, July 4 from 1-3 p.m. And they are working with local restaurants, encouraging them to use local products and recipes during that week.
For more information on actual events, go to https:// kitchenfest.ca.