STORY AND PHOTO BY KAREN BOSSICK
Foodies will find their nirvana on Sept. 14 and 15.
The Local Food Alliance is offering two gastronomical adventures those days: The Elevated Table followed by the annual Wood River Valley HarvestFest.
- The Elevated Table dinner—an open-air dinner at a long table set up in a farm field--will take place at 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 14, at Nighthawk Farm south of Bellevue. Chef Taite Pearson of Nomad Mobile Culinary Workshop will join Sean Temple, the head chef at Warfield Distillery and Brewery, to prepare four courses featuring locally sourced foods paired with regional wines.
The main courses will be augmented by seasonal appetizers and handcrafted cocktails made with local spirits, fresh herbs and locally gleaned fruits.
Kurtis and Matt Williams, who operate Waterwheel Gardens in Emmett, and Matt Luck of Pride of Bristol Bay will be on hand to talk about their products.
- The 4th annual Wood River Valley HarvestFest on Saturday, Sept. 15, kicks off with a free Family Food Fair & Market from 3 to 6 p.m. outside the Wood River Sustainability Center at 318 S. River St. in Hailey. Atkinsons’ Market, among the vendors, will offer samples of Desert Mountain Grass-Fed Beef right off the grill.
The Taste Tour will follow from 5 to 7 p.m. Chefs from at least a dozen restaurants in Hailey plus firefighters from Hailey Fire & Rescue will serve locally inspired tastes to spork holders as they walk around town.
Restaurants that have been confirmed include Wiseguy Pizza Pie, The Smokey Bone BBQ, Sawtooth Brewery, The Red Shoe, Lago Azul, KB’s, International Cowboy Cocina, Jersey Girl, diVine, CK’s Real Food, Dang’s Thai Cuisine and DaVinci’s.
There’ll be coffee and desserts from Hailey Coffee Company, Black Owl and The Coffee House back at the Wood River Sustainability Center following the tour. And Roadbars will have locally sourced cocktails available for purchase.
A free Street Party with live music by The Heaters, which is open to ticket holders and non-ticketholders alike, will cap the evening from 7 to 10 p.m.
Syringa Mountain School will again offer its Family Corral, complete with an opportunity for youngsters to make birdhouses, fresh apple cider and chow down on ice cream from 3 to 6 p.m.
Tickets for the Harvest Festival are $45. This offers ticket holders 10 Taste Local and two Drink Local coupons, a spork and a raffle ticket. Water bottles and insulated wine cups will be available for a $20 donation.
Those who wish to purchase two tickets to The Elevated Table and the next evening’s Taste Tour may do so for $450—a $40 discount.
Proceeds from both events will benefit the Local Food Alliance, which is currently spearheading a Community Food System Strategic Plan in partnership with the University of Idaho and the Blaine County Food Council. The plan will build on the data in the Community Food Assessment conducted by the Hunger Coalition in 2015 to help the Local Food alliance and Sun Valley Institute create business plans to help the local food system become more sustainable.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://www.wrvharvestfest.org.
LOCAL FOOD CONFERENCE COMING UP
A one-day conference “Balancing Profitability & Access in Local Food Systems” will be held Oct. 18 in Boise.
The conference, hosted by the University of Idaho Extension, will explore how to cultivate a local food economy to create jobs and invigorate small farms and businesses. Keynote speakers include Neva Hassnein, a professor of environmental studies at the University of Montana and author of “Changing the Way America Farms.” Also, Lauren Gwin, associate director of Center for Small Farms & Community Food Systems at Oregon State University.
The conference is being organized by University of Idaho Blaine County Extension Educator Lauren Golden with help from Local Food Alliance’s Stacy Whitman who began working as UI program assistant a year ago.
It will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 18 at the Riverside Hotel, 2900 W. Chinden Blvd., in Boise. Registration is $45 and can be made online at https://idahofood2018.eventbrite.com. Scholarships are available, and discounted room rates are available until Sept. 17 for conference participants who call 208-343-1871.
For more information, contact Lauren Golden at lgolden@uidaho.edu.