Food fests anchor recovery efforts

Just as the restaurant industry was walloped during lockdowns, so too did the travel industry suffer. In regions where travel makes up a significant percentage of the local economy, the effects were nothing short of devastating. Now that lockdowns are unwinding, areas that rely heavily on tourism are looking to combine eating and traveling as a mechanism to jumpstart their recovery by offering a plethora of food festivals. You can easily see this happening in Queensland, Australia.

The Queensland tourism board has a page dedicated to upcoming food festivals and events. “While we might be best known for our reef and endless coastline, there’s more than meets the eye in Queensland…Your best chance to taste the state on your plate is at of the many Queensland food festivals scheduled for the year ahead.” The listing includes the Moreton Bay Food & Wine Festival plus several others. You can even make up a custom “food trail” road trip map.

You do not have to live in Australia to find excellent food festivals. Reference.com has a listing for upcoming US festivals by state. Be sure to click on a month once you navigate to a state because each state’s landing page only has a couple of listings. I found out several around where I live, including the 25th annual “Rhubarb Frenzy” held in Chisago City, Minnesota.

Those in the UK can find a listing of 11 British food festivals including the Foodies Festival that features events in ten different cities in England and Scotland. Even if the links provided here are not convenient for you, I am sure that with a minimal amount of searching you will be able to find an event nearby. As EYB Member Deb Kellie puts it: “So many events, so much great paddock to plate food!!”

For our members in Canada, we found the following food festivals and see these sites for more Toronto dates, :

• Montréal Food Trucks Festival 2021: June to October, 2021
• July 3rd – Gambier Island Food Festival
• July 3-4th – Calgary Jerk Festival
• July 30th – August 2nd – Toronto Food Truck Festival
• July 30th – Edmonton Heritage Festival

If you are in New Zealand, check out the following dates and this site for more events by area:

• June 26th – The Seriously Good Food Show, Mount Maunganui
• June 26th – Katikati Festival of Cultures, Katikati
• Through June 30th – Japanese Food Fair, Auckland
• July 3rd – GABS Craft Beer Festival, Auckland
• July 29th – Auckland Food Show

Put your city name in a Google search with “food events” or “food festivals” and check out what is local to you.