A perennial favourite on the culinary calendar, Waterford Harvest Festival, will fill the streets of Waterford with the sights, sounds and aromas as one of Ireland’s leading food festivals. The festival returns from September 8th to September 10th, 2017.
Waterford, as a city and county takes huge pride in its food producers, and this year’s festival is all about the people who grow, cultivate, harvest, produce, prepare, promote and serve some of the country’s best food and beverages.
There are dozens of events taking place throughout the city centre and the areas of the Mall, Cathedral Square, Palace Square, The Applemarket and Ballybricken. Many are free for the young and young at heart to enjoy, so make sure you bring yourself, your family, your friends and your appetite along for the three-day taste-bud tingling, tasty and tantalising Waterford Harvest Festival.
Free Family fun:
Pip & Pear Pop Up restaurant will be serving free wholesome breakfasts for babies, toddlers and parents, all from fresh produce. The Baby HQ Livewell day is a new addition to the Harvest menu and will host a free “Happy Hearts” workshop, Mum-to-be Yoga and Pilate, baby massage classes and much more.
Garter Lane will host Autumn Leaves and Tasty Treats, a free hands-on, creative-craft, Harvest-themed workshop for children. WIT’s Calmast returns with a host of workshops and fun demonstrations exploring STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths). GIY will showcase “Grow, Cook, Eat” which highlights how easy and how much fun it is to grow your own food, transform it into a tasty meal and enjoy the fruits of your labour.
The Harvest Fit Food and Wellness area is a cornucopia of health-conscious workshops and demonstrations covering everything from meditation and mindfulness, diet and nutrition and achieving the best balance for a busy life.
The Festival Market will transform Waterford’s Viking Triangle into a food lover’s dream, with a weekend of taste bud tempting events! Or you can treat yourself at the Waterford Chamber Skillnet: A Taste of Food and Craft where you will find exciting artisan food, from Waterford and South-East producers.
Ballybricken, which was traditionally the hub of Waterford’s livestock and bacon curing industries, will play host to Junior HQ, the Dawn Meats City Farm, the Agri Aware Mobile Farm, Woodcarving demonstrations and the Ballybricken Fair.
Farm to Fork is a fantastic insight with interactive and entertaining demonstrations from Dawn Meats and Agri Aware. There’s even a pop up farm, where you can pet the animals, watch the sheep shearing or learn how to milk a cow.
The little ones can get creative at the Junior HQ kitemaking, Grow and Sow and Little Red Kettle workshops, while the Ballybricken Fair will have free falconry and birds of prey displays, face painting and some fun amusements for the kids to enjoy.
Harvest Dining:
The opening event, The Banquet on the Mall, is a collaborative celebration of local producers as chefs Darren Collins of The Olive Tree Restaurant, Shane McGrath of the Cliff House and The Seagull Bakery’s Fergal Walsh prepare a sumptuous five course meal at the Olive Tree on the Mall.
La Boheme Restaurant welcomes the owner and head chef of Miyazaki Take Away in Cork, Takashi Miyazaki. One of Japan’s most exciting and innovative chefs will prepare an unforgettable Japanese dining experience, introduced by John and Sally McKenna. They will also prepare a Butcher’s Block Feast using Dawn Meats ‘Black Angus’ aged beef.
The Granary Café set in the bustling centre of the city will serve up a sophisticated Afternoon Tea. Dooley’s Hotel will host the ever-popular Love Local Lunch, whilst Burzza, in its inimitable style, is preparing a pizza / burger and craft beer pairing weekend.
GIY’s Grow HQ will cook up a storm at their plot to plate event, using the very freshest local ingredients including their very own homegrown veg.
The Bay Tree Bistro’s Grand Finale is a “Three Sisters” themed event featuring owner and chef Keith Boyle, alongside Wexford Chefs Billy Whitty of Aldridge Lodge and Paul Hynes of La Côte Seafood Restaurant and Michelin starred chef Ken Harker of the Lady Helen Restaurant at Mount Juliet.
Quirky Festival features:
There will be chainsaw wood carving demonstrations with “Special Branch” in Ballybricken. The Blaa Eating Competition returns for a second year to The Mall, while the GastroGays will present a brunch demo.
The Applemarket is the stunning backdrop for Applemarket Street food, while Coffee House Lane will give Coffee Roasting demos, and at Garter Lane you can watch the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi (with a taste of Glorious Sushi) which follows 85-year old master sushi chef Jiro Ono, owner of the esteemed 10 seat, $300–a–plate Sukiyabashi Jiro restaurant in Tokyo.
Flahavan’s Fit Family Breakfast is a free Flahavan’s breakfast for all the family to enjoy at the Granary Café. You can forage for your food with the Sea Gardener, sample the very best of
Irish gin on the Blackwater Gintastic Lunch Trail or Thin gin and Tapas bits on the river or if whiskey is your tipple try Midleton Whiskey tastings at Revolution Gastro pub.
Metalman Rocks Craft Beer Festival returns to Bailey’s New street with a wide selection of their craft beers, live music from the likes of Newfoundland, Soul Reazon and Susan O’Neil.
To find out more the Waterford Harvest Festival full programme of events is available on www.waterfordharvestfestival.ie, and you can keep up to date on all things Harvest Fest by checking it out on Facebook and Twitter.
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