The popularity of the P.E.I. Fall Flavours Festival last year has encouraged organizers to expand it to a month-long event this year, it was announced Wednesday during a news conference at Jewell’s Country Market in York.
The festival, now in its third year, will run Sept. 3-30 and will feature more than 250 interactive culinary and cultural events designed to spotlight authentic Island tastes and traditions in communities across P.E.I.
In 2009, the festival ran for 10 days, from Sept. 25 to Oct. 4, and featured about 150 culinary events.
The decision to expand the festival was made by the P.E.I. Culinary Alliance, which includes members from the agriculture, fisheries and tourism sectors in addition to support from the federal and provincial governments, and is supported by a 20 per cent increase in ticket sales from 2008 to 2009 for the festival.
P.E.I. food ambassador Chef Michael Smith, host of the Food Network series Chef Abroad, is the official host of the festival and said P.E.I. is one of the world’s great culinary destinations.
“From tip to tip, (P.E.I. is) packed with the flavour, ingredients and stories that make it so attractive,” Smith said.
The festival’s success and growth reflects the desire of Islanders to showcase their high-quality culinary products and events and the desire of consumers to travel to attend the event, Smith said.
“In fact, (the festival) is so successful, we’ve had to expand it to a month to fit it all in.”
The festival’s popularity is not surprising considering current food trends in the world today, Smith said.
“Our timing is perfect. The biggest trend in food today is a return to local. Here on P.E.I., we never left.”
P.E.I. Tourism and Culture Minister Robert Vessey said the festival is huge for tourism during the fall period, which is important because tourism revenues contribute to areas like health care and education.
“(The festival) is going to increase traffic in the shoulder season,” Vessey said.
Hey P.E.I.! We're on our way to see you next weekend. We were thrilled to see the fall flavours events lined up for this year during our annual 2 week vacation to your beautiful island. We come every year in September and have always missed this event. We've purchased our tickets ahead of time and can't wait to experience the many different events. Michael Smith has done it again! Take care with hurricane earl. We hope it heads out to sea soon.