Waterloo - Foodlink Waterloo Region’s local food showcase and fundraiser has moved to a brand new location. The 6th Annual Taste Local! Taste Fresh! event will take place Sunday, September 20, 2009, 2-5 pm in Riverside Meadow’s Park in St. Jacobs. Once again guests will be able to spend a relaxing afternoon tasting a tantalizing array of appetizers prepared by teams of the area’s finest chefs and farmers. This year’s event will feature 20 chef/farmer pairings offering participants an opportunity to sample exquisite new recipes featuring local foods and farm-fresh products.

“Taste Local! Taste Fresh! helps to build relationships amongst our farmers, chefs and consumers, which in turn promotes the creation of a local food community,” says Event Coordinator Anna Contini. “It is a fun, relaxed way to expose people to the idea of eating locally and to increase support for our local farms and restaurants”.

Guests will be able to meet and chat with chefs about the art of cooking and farmers about the local food they grow. To add to the ambiance they will be treated to the live music of Another Blind Date and will have an opportunity to bid on fabulous silent auction packages while sipping on Pelee Island Wines and Wellington County brews. Each guest will receive a “passport” providing information about the tasty creations as well as the participating farms and restaurants.

A limited number of tickets for Taste Local! Taste Fresh! are available while quantities last. The cost is $65 and includes all tastings, welcome champagne and a one-of-a kind pottery appetizer plate. Last year the event drew over 400 guests and organizers anticipate selling out this year! A book of ten tickets is available to businesses or individuals at the special price of $600. Tickets can be purchased online at www.foodlink.ca or by contacting the Foodlink office 519-513-8998.

Charbries Restaurant in Uptown Waterloo has participated in the Taste Local event for the past four years. “It is a wonderful opportunity to work with other top notch chefs in showcasing the wide selection of local foods that are available right here in Waterloo Region,” says owner Charmaine LaBrie. This year the restaurant is paired with Floralane Produce. “We especially like the challenge of taking a humble tomato and turning it into something really special,” says LaBrie. Charbries chef Lance Edwards is not yet willing to divulge his plans but suffice to say he will be doing something highly unconventional with Elmira’s Own tomatoes!

“Without a doubt the event brings out the creative and sometimes competitive side of chefs but in the end everybody wins. The farmers, chefs and consumers all get to know one and other while everyone has a great time in a very festive atmosphere”, says Contini. “It is truly a celebration of our local harvest and the people who are connected with it”.

For the first three years Taste Local! Taste Fresh! took place in New Hamburg, followed by two years on Victoria Park Island in Kitchener. This year is the first time the event has taken place in St. Jacobs but the original intent of the event was to move it around to different locations within Waterloo Region, says Contini. “We are delighted to bring Taste Local to the picturesque setting of Riverside Meadows Park in St. Jacobs and very grateful to this year’s Golden Apple Sponsors-- the Township of Woolwich and St. Jacobs Country.

Taste Local! Taste Fresh! is a fundraising event for Foodlink Waterloo Region, a non-profit organization dedicated to raising the profile of our local harvest. This is achieved through the establishment of Buy Local Buy Fresh local food branding, an annual map featuring farms and local food businesses, a monthly newsletter Local Harvest that profiles local farms and seasonal produce, and by facilitating marketing connections between buyers and producers. This past spring Foodlink launched a brand new website www.foodlink.ca.

This year’s Taste Local! Taste Fresh! restaurant/caterer participants include:

Artbar Creative Dining & Wines; Benjamin’s; Charbries; Conestoga College; Divinely Raw; Duke St. Muse; Entertaining Elements; Exhibit Café; Fiddleheads; Garden Party; Golden Hearth Baking Co.; Gusto Catering Co.; Liaison College; Nick & Nat’s Uptown 21; Peter Martin’s 20 King; Select Service Caterers; Sole Restaurant & Wine Bar; Vidalia’s; Walper Terrace; Whole-Lot-a-Gelata