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Inaugural Feast and Fest celebrates local food

A fall festival kicked off its first year in Fernie Sept. 19-20.
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Arlo Jamin

The Harvest Feast and Fest celebrated their inaugural event over the weekend, with two days of festivities. The Feast, catered by chef Barrie Elliott, treated the 100 attendants to a locally inspired meal, while the Fest was a celebration of urban farming and food grown in the Elk Valley.

The Harvest Feast and Fest was organized in conjunction with Wildsight and was designed to be a fundraiser for the environmental group. Sharon Switzer, president of Wildsight, said she is really pleased with the results of the event, describing it as “spectacular.”

“We were really happy to have the community support a food event. It’s different than most of the events and we had overwhelming success at both days and we felt really supported and really grateful that people came out and supported us,” said Switzer.

The Fest featured different events and attractions, including a cakewalk, a chili taste-off, and prizes for the largest and most unique vegetables. It also feature children-friendly attractions, such as miniature pony rides, fair games and haystack to play in. Vendors from the Mountain Market set up their booths for a final time, selling local produce, meat and art goods.

While the organizers are still totaling the final amount raised, Switzer said that the event has already been regarded as a success and they are looking for to continuing it.

“I think definitely there will be a second annual coming. I think everybody from Wildsight has committed to doing it,” said Switzer. “I think we branded it really well. I think it really spoke to who the organization is in the way we presented it and I’m really proud of it.”