Festival Epicure 2011

It’s official! Festival Epicure will be back for 2011!

Organizer, Ken Brandes, is excited to be bringing one of Windsor, Ontario’s favourite festivals back from its one year hiatus. A combination of the original construction of the retention basin on the riverfront and the subsequent dirt and dust, as well as lack of a title sponsor due to tough economic times, resulted in the festival being shelved for 2010.

“It was a very hard decision but it was necessary,” Ken said. “It was always intended to resume after ‘the dust settled’. Plus it is hard for a true event producer to resist a new 3 million dollar stage!”

For those of you not in the know, the City of Windsor is currently building a brand new Festival Plaza along Windsor’s riverfront and Ken believes it will be a huge leap forward.

“It is just nerve-racking designing a site that I can’t get into. But the customers are going to be impressed, for sure”, he says. “Windsor will be proud.”

Asked if he was worried about construction of the new Festival Plaza being behind schedule, Ken said that he was assured everything would be completely done, except for some of the small touches like landscaping details.

“I cannot dwell on that,” he says. “I have to trust that people are aware what is at stake.”

As for what patrons can expect for this year’s site layout of Festival Epicure, Ken hasn’t completely decided yet. “I am still not sure whether the layout will be similar or 100% different,” he says.

While he hasn’t solidified his layout of the site, his entertainment is in place and looks like a great line up that includes: Kimmie Horne, The Unsettlers, Detroit Music Award winners Groove Council, gospel blues band The Mighty New Inspirations and our personal favourite, Flamenco guitarist Johannes Linstead as well as many others. The entire lineup can be viewed here.

A new charity has also been selected this year to benefit from the Festival. This year Ken decided to help out Pathway to Potential, a poverty reduction strategy agency. A portion of the proceeds will be going towards their Community Garden Program.

Now, don’t think we’ve forgotten the most important part: the food! A whole slew of WindsorEats members will be on hand including, Smoke & Spice, Taste Bud Bistro, Chanoso’s, Mongolian Grill, Koi Sushi & Japanese Cuisine, Mezzo Ristorante, Bozii, The Original Tecumseh Roadhouse and Rino’s Kitchen. Some of our member wineries will be on site as well including: Aleksander Estate Winery, Smith & Wilson Estate Wines and Sprucewood Shores Estate Winery.

As always, WindsorEats will also be on site at Festival Epicure doing what we do best, promoting everything culinary in Windsor-Essex.

Festival Epicure will take place from July 8-10, 2011 and has a $6 admission.