November 2 – ROCHESTER – PARTY! Local Foods Marketplace brought new vendors and businesses to the Mayo Civic Center for the eleventh year in a row.
FEAST was founded 11 years ago by two local nonprofits, Southern Minnesota Initiative Foundation and Renewing the Countryside. The goal was to strengthen the economic and social bonds that form when eaters support local farmers and food producers.
This festival does just that by allowing consumers to walk through aisles filled with vendors from Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin looking to expand their reach. It’s a great opportunity for suppliers to meet and network with other businesses, while consumers get the chance to find something unique.
“We have about 87 different food and beverage companies,” said Elena Bryne, the FEAST program coordinator. “We also have five educational booths. We’re happy to have people like the Minnesota Farmers Market Association and Forever Green Initiative… We’re happy to connect attendees here with the people who grow and make food responsibly , clean ways that are good for the environment.”
The event also featured 19 craft alcohol vendors, allowing attendees to sample more flavors and drinks in moderation.
“I love pale ales, but if I were to taste at a bar how many one-ounce pale ales I tasted today, I would be in real trouble,” says Brett Olson, co-founder of Renewing the Countryside.
In addition to the unique food available throughout the venue, the festival also featured local chefs giving cooking demonstrations every hour between 11am and 3pm. event.
Last year FEAST had more than 14,000 attendees, with the goal of breaking 15,000 this year. There was a good mix of attendees who had attended the event in previous years, but this was the first time for Crystal Lin and Affan Kaleem.
“I heard about it online,” Lin said. “I was looking at events in Rochester and headed out for the fall. Mayo usually has so many events and I saw this and said, ‘Oh, let’s go check it out!'”
Lin and Kaleem both love food and were excited to support local small businesses. They saw the diversity among sellers who transported items that they could not simply pick up in a supermarket. They also didn’t feel pressured to buy anything, which made the event even more fun. One of the items they are most excited about is a garlic presto.
“We bought several things,” Kaleem said. “I think it’s best to try a bunch of different things so you get a taste of all kinds of different people and everyone is very generous with their samples.”
FEAST is also a great event for those who have been there before. They kept a list of all 439 companies that attended the event and 28% of the vendors at this year’s event were attending for the first time.
Tiger Trail Lefse Chip Company was among those present for the first time. The new Peterson company opened in June this year and specializes in making fried lefse chips in a variety of flavors.
“It was super busy,” said Jordan Pelzl, co-owner of Tiger Trails Lefse Chip Company. “It went great. We had someone at the table almost every second of the event, so no complaints. We also get a lot of connections from other suppliers and things like that. So that’s nice to see.”
They heard about the event through word of mouth and thought it would be a great way to spread the word about their products. They have partnered with local breweries, restaurants, grocery stores and more to distribute their product and plan to continue attending events like FEAST in the future.
“A lot of them have never heard of lefse chips,” Pelzl said. “Some had never heard of lefse before, so they introduced us to our product, as well as the vendors, talking to some local vendors, some grocery stores, some wineries, distilleries, just to get our product. It was great.”
