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A Lovely Evening: The Farm-to-Table Food and Wine Extravaganza

Published on August 25, 2015 By Emily. Updated on October 5, 2016

I attended the Food and Wine Extravaganza on a press pass in exchange for writing about the event.  We paid for Brian’s ticket.  As always, my opinions are my own.

pickles at the food and wine festival

You may recall that last year I enjoyed a fun day – and took a set of terrible photos – at the Western Massachusetts Beer Festival in Dalton.  It was a great day of trying new brews and supporting a good cause.  This year, I found out that the Kelly’s Package Store-sponsored event would be a weekend long celebration – a Friday night Farm-to-Table Food and Wine Extravaganza, the Saturday Beer Festival and a Sunday Arts Day.  As much as I enjoyed the beer festival, the food and wine event sounded even better.  Never mind the fact that all the events support local non-profits.

Grace Hill Farm cheese

The Food and Wine Extravaganza is definitely smaller than the beer festival.  I didn’t count vendors, I’d estimate there were about 15.  The website claimed several that didn’t make it to the event.  The crowd was also much smaller, which was nice.  We didn’t have a lot of problem with lines at the beer festival last year, but the smaller attendance meant many more opportunities to talk to the participants.  It also seemed like the mood of the attendees was friendlier, more social and more relaxed.

Berkshire Mountain Bakery

And the quality of participants was excellent.  Berkshire Mountain Bakery, Grace Hill Farm, Bola Granola, E.L. Mountain Farm, Gramercy Bistro, Guido’s Fresh Marketplace and others were all there.  I can think of several Berkshire area food and wine producers that were not in attendance, but there was a wide variety of foods available and everything was really delicious.  As in the case of the beer festival, samples were unlimited, though it was a little harder to be inconspicuous when you went for your third piece of bread.

East Mountain Beef from Berkshire Organics

There was wine too, of course, at 3 or 4 different tables.  We sampled and enjoyed it, but wine is never as interesting to me as beer.  I wasn’t there for the wine, I was there for the food.  I appreciated that the event didn’t come off as a wine tasting, though I could see a situation in which that might disappoint some attendees.  The wine tables were very popular.

syrup at the food and wine festival

There were other drinks on hand as well.  Both Berkshire Mountain Distillers (home of the best craft gin in the country, according to the NY Times) and Lefty’s Brewing Company had tables that we thoroughly enjoyed visiting.  The representatives for both brands were super helpful in answering questions and generous with samples.

Berkshire Mountain Distillers

Leftys Brewing Company

A few of the food tables stood out to Brian and I as well.  We were both really impressed with the sausages from Mountain Top Country Meats in Savoy.  I’d never seen them at an event before and everything I tasted was fantastic.  We came home with some of their beef jerky and I may have to give them a call when the holidays get closer.  I also found myself repeatedly drawn to the Berkshire Bark table, where samples of all of their bars were available for tasting.  Berkshire Bark is available at several local stores, but I don’t know if I’ve ever gotten to try it before.  It’s pretty awesome and provided a nice sweet contrast for the otherwise savory foods.

Mountain Top Country Meats samples

Berkshire Bark

I enjoyed myself so much at this event.  It definitely helped that Friday was a lovely evening.  It was so nice to wander through the tents, sampling food and beverages, sitting occasionally to relax, chatting with producers and attendees, listening to live music and planning our next stop.  We spent about an hour and half at the festival, which allowed us ample time to try something from all the tables.  Everything was so good and the mood was so relaxed.  I would love to see the Farm-to-Table Food and Wine Extravaganza expand to include some more local producers, but even if it remained the same, I’d definitely put it on my calendar for next year.

dusk at the food and wine festival 2

Thanks again to Kelly’s Package Store for helping make this post possible!

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Filed Under: events Tagged With: Berkshires, dalton, festival, local

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Comments

  1. Veronica says

    August 26, 2015 at 11:53 am

    You had me at wine, but honestly the food looks like it would take center stage for me! This looks so tasty!!

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photo of EmilyWelcome to Relishments! Follow along with my adventures in cooking and eating in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts.

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Emily
Last week Brian and I finally got around to hiring Last week Brian and I finally got around to hiring a sitter for a rare night out. We went to dinner at @publicna and took advantage of the opportunity with drinks, appetizers and dessert.

Pictured:
- Citrus Braised Beef Tacos
- "Chicken and Waffles"
- House Fries with Garlic Aioli
- Fried Chickpeas
- Blood Orange Cheesecake
It was no surprise that Public was close to full on a Wednesday night - everything was so good. 

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#igers413_food #igers413 #BerkshireFoodies #InTheBerkshires #EatLocal #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #NorthAdams #NAmazing #PublicEatAndDrink
New year, new theme word! This year's word is "enr New year, new theme word!
This year's word is "enrich" and I'm really excited about it.

I've written more about this year's theme on the blog. Click in the link in my profile or follow the link below to read the post.
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https://www.relishments.com/blog/my-2023-theme-word-enrich/
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#YearlyTheme #MyOneWord #2023 #enrich2023 #NewYearsResolution
It's not New Year's Eve without a Top 9 post. It's It's not New Year's Eve without a Top 9 post.
It's almost all #Berkshires content this year, which is great.
1. A pasta salad reel that took longer to create than the recipe took to make.
2. A reel from North Carolina where I could have watched birds all day.
3. The @thelazygenius book giveaway.
4.@plantconnector 
5. @berkshiremuseum 
6.@sculpture.now at @themountlenox 
7. @massmoca 
8. @mountainviewfarm413 
9. The #AshuwillticookRailTrail
New on the blog: My 2022 reflections on last year' New on the blog: My 2022 reflections on last year's theme word - resume. 

I was able to get back to many activities that were meaningful to me this year and I'm calling this theme a success. Follow the link below or click the link in my profile to read more.
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https://www.relishments.com/blog/reflections-on-resuming-in-2022/
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#resume2022 #newyearsresolution #myoneword #yearlytheme
New on the blog: My Favorite Recipes of 2022. For New on the blog: My Favorite Recipes of 2022.

For the fourth year, I've recapped the best new (to me) recipes I made this year in the hope that they'll give you some new dishes to try. This year's list is short, but delicious. It includes @budgetbytes My Favorite Recipes of 2022
Published on December 30, 2022 By Emily. Updated on December 30, 2022

It’s hard to believe that 2022 is basically behind us. Though overall this year found me getting back to the person I want to be (post-babies and “post”-pandemic), I did not try nearly as many new recipes this year as I used to. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to see that I’d made note of any new-to-me recipes I wanted to share in this post. This year’s list is short, but delicious. It includes recipes from @budgetbytes, @smittenkitchen and @howsweeteats.
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Read the post by visiting the link in my profile or 
https://www.relishments.com/blog/my-favorite-recipes-of-2022/
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#RecipeRoundUp #BestRecipes2022 #FavoriteRecipes
@coastalmainebotanicalgardens continues to be one @coastalmainebotanicalgardens continues to be one of the highlights of all my return trips to Boothbay and their annual Gardens Aglow event continues to impress. It was great to be back to walking the gardens instead of the pandemic drive through and there seemed to be more lights than ever.  I'm already looking forward to next year.
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#Boothbay #BoothbayMaine #CoastalMaineBotanicalGardens #GardensAglow #BotanicalGarden #MidcoastMaine
It has been a while, but there is finally a new CS It has been a while, but there is finally a new CSA menu plan on the blog! Visit the link below or in my profile to see how I plan to make use of some of the @mightyfoodfarm produce seen here.
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https://www.relishments.com/blog/welcome-to-winter-farm-share-csa-menu-plan-148/
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#MightyFoodFarm #EatLocal #EatSeasonal #VermontGrown #CSApickup #CSAshare #KnowYourFarmerKnowYourFood #MenuPlanning #MealPlanning #igers413 #igers413_food #BerkshireFoodies
Fall in the Berkshires is always incredible, but t Fall in the Berkshires is always incredible, but this year we've had weather that has also been outstanding. The past 2 weekends have included time at Jaeschke Orchards, the Greylock Glen, and the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail as well as stopping to photograph any random foliage I see. 
Check out the last slide for video of some feathered friends we saw on a walk.
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#igers413 #InTheBerkshires #EatLocal #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #FallFoliage #FallColors #autumn #AshuwillticookRailTrail #JaeschkeOrchards #GreylockGlen
@freshgrassfestival continues to be one of my favo @freshgrassfestival continues to be one of my favorite events each year, and it doesn't hurt that it's just minutes away from home. Enjoying the festival with my kids is definitely a different experience than without, but it's still a good time. The weather was especially cooperative today which was great for all the laps I did around the @massmoca campus pushing a stroller. I'm already looking forward to next year.
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#igers413 #InTheBerkshires #WesternMA #WesternMass #Berkshires  #VisitTheBerkshires #NorthAdams #NAmazing #FreshGrass #FreshGrassFestival #MassMoCA #MusicFestival
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