There is no admission for the festival. Several workshops will be offered for a small fee to benefit the guild. Seminars and demonstrations scheduled to begin at 11:00 am and run until 4:00 pm.
The Portland Public Market is open daily, and will offer two hours free parking next door for anybody who attends. The Maine Cheese Guild will hold a raffle for several gift baskets of artisanal cheeses throughout the day to raise funds for the organization, and will have a booth where interested attendees can get information about becoming a member.
Many of Maine's premier and award winning artisan cheesemakers will be on hand to sample and sell their cheese, as well as to answer questions about their artisanal cheeses-- how and where in the state they make them. The Maine cheesemakers will include Silvery Moon Creamery at Smiling Hill Farm from Westbrook; Sunset Acres Farm in Brooksville; 1797 Farm in Auburn; Appleton Creamery in Appleton; State of Maine Cheese Co. in Rockport; Hahn's End in Phippsburg; York Hill Farm in New Sharon; Seal Cove Farm in Lamoine; and many more.
Taste milk from sheep, goats, and cows to compare. There will be
goats and a dairy calf on display, cheese books for browsing and
sale, and music by the Harley Smith Band throughout the day. For a
small donation to the Maine Cheese Guild, you will be able to attend
seminars in the Market's kitchen facilities on making cheeses such
as French Tomme or Mexican Queso Blanco, or a demonstration by a top
Maine chef on cooking with artisan cheese.
Kris Horton of K. Horton's Specialty Foods together with the Public Market are hosting the Festival, and have arranged to pair cheeses with wine tasting. In addition, the Market vendors will create special cheese-featured dishes to sample for the Festival that will be judged by popular vote.
• Workshops: two workshops on how to make cheeses, a wine and cheese combinations workshop by Miranda's restaurant and a Pairings workshop by Kris Horton of Horton's Specialty Foods.
• Guild will offer a display of historical cheese-making tools and photographs
• Longfellow Bookstore will be selling cheese making books and other related titles
• Live dairy animal area including goats from Liberty Fields Farm, calf from Smiling Hill Farm
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