Raise a glass as festival of food and drink is back

The award-winning Ballantrae Festival of Food and Drink will return as a live event this summer.

And this year will be all the more sweet as the village became South Ayrshire’s first Biosphere Community in January.

Organisers are now calling on growers, producers, retailers and chefs who would like to attend and join the celebration of showcasing the best small and sustainable food businesses in Scotland’s southwest. This year’s event will take place over the weekend of June 11 to 12, and as in previous years will include a lively variety of workshops, tastings and demonstrations alongside a two-day food market.

Dr Mhairi McKenna of BFFD’s organising group said:“We are very much looking forward to welcoming visitors to Ballantrae Festival of Food and Drink in June, and especially to helping reconnect Scotland’s producers, retailers and customers, for whom this has been such a challenging couple of years.

“I don’t think there is any better way to move forward than by coming together to celebrate and share our local food and drink.”

Galloway & Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere has been involved with the festival for several years.

Marie McNulty, the group’s business development office said: “Ballantrae became South Ayrshire’s first Biosphere Community at the beginning of 2022 and the festival is something that the village can look forward to as a showcase of what local passion and pride can achieve.”

Businesses that would like to participate in this year’s event should email the group on: ballantraefestival@gmail. com