Eighth Annual Taste Of Highland

We recently spoke with Claire Sax, Events and Development Coordinator for The Highland Center in Monterey, to find out more about the upcoming Taste of Highland event.

“This year, we have our Eighth Annual Taste of Highland – it’s on July 28th at 5:30 pm. It will be held outside, under a big tent next to the farmers’ market pavilion. Bill Bratton has graciously allowed us the use of his tent again this year.

“Taste of Highland originally began as a way for our area to promote the different farms, and the product available, whether that was meat or produce, or even baked goods. It was also an event that was used as a fundraiser for The Highland Center, to fundraise for the various programs and capital campaigns for the various properties that The Highland Center owns.

“This year, it’s a little bit of both. We’ve changed it slightly, so that not only are we featuring different farms and different producers in the area, but we’ve paired them with area restaurants and caterers. Our goal, at The Highland Center, is really to promote local producers, local farms, and see how we can better engage them with other outlets – so, different restaurants, or different people that have connections in other areas.

“So this year, we’ve invited different restaurants, such as White’s Wayside, who will be preparing some food for us; we have Blue Roof Caterers, that got its start here in Highland County; Reunion Bakery, which is located in Staunton; we have Kind Roots, based out of Lexington; The Curly Maple; The Highland Inn; and then we have a number of other local chefs as well participating.

“We have a fairly wide number of farms participating – was have Fireside Farm, that does pasture raised chicken; we have Healing Farm, and they’ve donated to us some beef brisket; we have the Virginia Trout Company; we have Berriedale Farm with ground beef; Cress Farm with ground lamb; Big Fish Cider; and a number of others that will provide produce and some other meat options as well.

“We have live music this year, featuring our local musicians Michael Bedwell, Ben Witman and Neil Mohlman, and they’ll be performing about half an hour at the beginning, and again doing a closing set for us.

“This year, The Highland Center has been given a number of gift cards and various products of our local retail businesses, so we’re putting together gift baskets – they’re going to be a couple in Highland that feature things like Back Creek Farm’s syrup, and Allegheny Mountain Institute Farm stay, we’ve gotten a gift card from Fort Lewis Lodge for dinner for two. We’ve got a number of things like that, so if you are planning to come to the Taste of Highland, be sure you bring some cash if you would like to be part of our raffle drawing.

“We’ve been really lucky at The Highland Center to have a number of community members that have always really supported our mission and our programs, and this year is no different. We had a number of different sponsorship levels, and there are a few that have come in that are from local organizations – Waybright Inc./Gutshall’s Exxon, who have been very supportive of our youth programs, we have Positive Momentum LLC, Highlanders For Responsible Development, Allegheny Instruments, and a number of others as well.”

If you want to attend this evening of food and fun, you might want to act quickly.

“This year, we’ve made the ticket prices a little bit less expensive  – it’s $40 a ticket, which was a decrease of $20 from years prior, with the goal of increasing accessibility to other age groups and demographics here in Highland County, and around. But tickets are almost sold out. We are happy to announce that we only have a handful left, so if you want to buy tickets, you can do that online at www.thehighlandcenter.org. You can also call us at 540-468-1922, or visit us at the Farmers’ Market every Friday, from 3:30 – 6:00  pm.”

Story By

Scott Smith

Scott Smith is the General Manager for Allegheny Mountain Radio and Station Coordinator and News Reporter for WVLS. Scott’s family has deep roots in Highland County. While he did not grow up here, he spent as much time as possible on the family farm, and eventually moved to Highland to continue the tradition, which he still pursues with his cousin. Unfortunately, farming doesn’t pay all the bills, so he has previously taken other jobs to support his farming hobby, including pressman/writer for The Recorder, and Ag Projects Coordinator for The Highland Center. He lives in Hightown with wife Michelle and son Ethan. In his spare time, he wishes he had more spare time, especially to ride his prized Harley-Davidson motorcycle. scott@amrmail.org

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