Canada’s best artisan cheeses will be available for sampling and purchase when The Great Canadian Cheese Festival returns next weekend after an absence of eight years.
The festival that attracted thousands of foodies to Prince Edward County from 2011 to 2017 is being resurrected by new ownership in a spectacular new venue in Kingston, Ontario.
Purchase tickets in advance online for the May 24-25 festival at Fort Henry, a 19th century fortress overlooking Kingston and Lake Ontario.
Plan on making a weekend of it to sample all the cheese and artisan foods on offer, and take in all the events. By purchasing tickets in advance you’ll avoid any lineups or delays at the festival entrance.
It’s the biggest artisan cheese show in Canada, with more than 100 exhibitors and vendors offering hundreds of artisan food products, including cow, sheep, goat, and water buffalo milk cheeses, plus wine, craft beer, distilleries, zero proof, and cideries, pickles, nuts, jams, honey, charcuterie, and more.
The lineup of participating cheesemakers from across Canada is impressive.
From Quebec:
- Fromagerie Abbaye St Benoit
- Fromagerie Blackburn
- Fromagerie de l’Île-aux-Grues
- Fromagerie du Presbytère
- Fromagerie Fritz Kaiser
- Fromagerie L’Ancêtre
- Fromagerie La Suisse Normande
- Fromagerie Le Détour
- Fromagerie Médard
- Fromagerie Montebello
- Laiterie Charlevoix
- La Station de Compton
- La Suisse Normande
- Saputo
From Ontario:
- Back Forty Artisan Cheese
- Bushgarden Cheese
- Cross Wind Farm
- Empire Cheese Co-operative
- Fromagerie Kapuskoise
- Golspie Dairy
- Glengarry Fine Cheese
- Gunn’s Hill Artisan Cheese
- Lactalis Canada
- Monforte Dairy
- Mountainoak Cheese
- Stonetown Artisan Cheese
- Udder Way Artisan Cheese
- Upper Canada Cheese
Prince Edward Island:
British Columbia:
Alberta:
Fort Henry is a two-hour drive from Ottawa, three hours from Toronto or Montreal. Kingston offers many choices for accommodations and plenty of first-class restaurants.
The driving force behind the new Great Canadian Cheese Festival is Patricia McDermott, owner of Agrarian Market in Picton since 2012 and operator of farmers markets in the County for the last 15 years.
“After starting my cheese shop in Bloomfield in the County over 10 years ago, and attending the original Great Canadian Cheese Festival, I knew I wanted to bring my love of cheese to more people. That’s the motivation that led me to produce the new Great Canadian Cheese Festival . . .”
The Great Canadian Cheese Festival brings together many of the country’s best cheesemakers and artisan food producers for two full days of meeting, tasting, buying and learning.
Tutored tastings will be led and cheeses selected by acclaimed cheese sommelier Vanessa Simmons of Ottawa and cheese educator Roxanne Renwick of Toronto. Additionally, there will be cheesemaking workshops for adults and for children.
Plus live music and—for when cheese isn’t enough—a selection of food trucks.
Click here to order tickets online in advance.
From my experience as founder and director of The Great Canadian Cheese Festival in Picton from 2011 to 2017, there is nothing quite like gathering with kindred spirits to try and buy the best of artisan cheese and sample other artisan foods in the ambiance of an iconic venue like Fort Henry.
—Georgs Kolesnikovs
