EAT AND BE MERRY
A calendar of Ontario food festivals
By late-summer, small-town Ontario has begun to bustle with agricultural festivals that pay homage to everything from the humble navy bean to carrots, watermelon and corn. And, while taking a road trip just to chow down on in-season produce may seem like a stretch, these local parties come complete with a downhome vibe, activities for the kids and comestibles that are fresh from the farm. Here are a few you might like to visit:
Better a carrot than a stick!
Bradford’s CarrotFest (Aug. 19 to 20) bills itself as “the world’s greatest carrot festival.” The town turns out in force to celebrate its agricultural roots, with midway rides, street performers, live music, the CarrotFast 5k run, dance performances, even pro wrestlers. Oh, and fill your belly with carrot cake, carrot muffins, carrot juice, deep-fried carrots, and carrot sundaes. Admission is free — you even get a free bag of carrots to bring home. carrotfest.ca
Kinda corny
The Tecumseh Corn Festival (Aug. 25 to 28) offers the chance to chow down on sweet peaches ’n’ cream corn, take in some live entertainment and watch what the town bills as “the largest small town parade.” The newly crowned Miss Tecumseh occupies a place of honour in an open convertible alongside Nibby, the town’s over-sized corncob mascot. There’s a midway, arts and crafts booths, food concessions, and contests (corn shucking, anyone?). Admission is $2 for seniors and $3 for adults. Free for kids 12 and under. tecumsehcornfestival.ca
A peach of a festival
Make a pit stop at the Winona Peach Festival (Aug. 26 to 28) for baskets of fresh-picked peaches, not to mention peach-filled pies, crepes, cobbler and the town’s famous peach sundae. The festival features arts and crafts booths, rides, an antique car show, live music, face-painting and other kids’ activities, along with the Grand Peach Ball, all reigned over by the Winona Peach Queen. Free admission. winonapeach.com
Celebrate the musical fruit
The Zurich Bean Festival (Aug. 27) in Ontario’s verdant Huron County is now in its 51st year and it’s not above tooting its own horn. The star of the show: the tender white navy bean. Each year, some 2,500-plus pounds are slow cooked in a “secret sauce” to grace a country plate worth singing about. You get baked beans, a smoked pork chop, applesauce, coleslaw and a bun. You can even pick up a souvenir T-shirt that reads “Follow me for free gas.” Admission is free. zurichbeanfestival.com
Straffordville Watermelon Fest
This festival (Aug. 27) kicks off with a parade at 10 a.m., followed by a pancake breakfast at the local firehall. From there, participants congregate in Straffordville Community Park for the carnival rides, food and craft vendors, silent auction and free kids activities such as face-painting. Once the sun goes down, there’s a BYOC (bring your own chair) open-air screening of a feature film. Oh, and did we mention the free watermelon? About 400 of the pot-bellied gourds are consumed during the festival each year. Spitting is allowed — it’s even encouraged. In fact, there’s both a watermelon-eating and a seedspitting contest. Free admission. bayham.on.ca
Get your fill of the “stinking rose”
Say Stratford, Ont., and most people think immediately of Shakespeare. But for the past nine years, this foodie haven — home to the Stratford Chef School and numerous fine restaurants — has hosted the Stratford Kiwanis Garlic Festival (Sept. 10 to 11). Advocates say that, when it comes to garlic, the Ontario-grown version is as different from the cheap imports as chalk and cheese. Want to load up? You’ll find plenty for sale at the festival. What’s more, you can watch cooking demos by celebrity chefs and cookbook authors, garlic braiding competitions and live music. Admission is $10; children under 12 are free. stratfordgarlicfestival.com
Carve a courgette
The good folks of Millbrook, Ont., celebrate the humble zucchini with characteristic humour. “We slash, smash, serenade and fricassee our way through a mountain of zucchinis,” claims the website of the Millbrook Zucchini Festival (Sept. 11). The festivities launch with a zucchini-boat competition where competitors fashion crafts from the malleable veg and race them down Baxter Creek. That’s followed by a zucchini-carving contest and an appearance by a zucchini poet laureate. There’s also a running gag that involves leaving “abandoned zucchini babies” — complete with tiny knit cap and note — on the steps of the town’s churches. millbrookzucchinifest.blogspot.ca