By Aaron Rubin, Standard Correspondent
The annual Taste of Woodstock event returns to Elm Street this Saturday, Aug. 10, featuring more than 50 vendors offering food, drink, entertainment, and health and wellness tips.
The event will begin at 7 a.m. on Elm Street, which will be closed down until the end of the day at 7 p.m., according to Woodstock Chamber of Commerce executive director Beth Finlayson.
Taste of Woodstock will feature local food and drink vendors offering items such as smoked and grilled foods, oil and syrup tastings, and samples from local vineyards and distilleries. Courtesy of Beth Finlayson
Returning vendors will be offering samples of their food and drink products, such as North Branch Vineyards from Montpelier. Co-owner John McCann said this year marks the vineyard’s first return to the event since the onset of the pandemic, and will give “our consumers a chance to try the wine before buying.”
“We will be offering four varieties, including our Marquette which won Best VT Wine in 2023,” said McCann.”This event is all about food and beverage. It is a great place to experience what VT has to offer.”
St. Johnsbury Distillery will be another returning vendor, offering “complimentary samples of all our spirits lineups” said marketing and sales manager Greg Piper.
He highlighted some of the distillery’s unique and popular offerings that will be at the event, including its “Elderflower Rum [and] our Vermont Vodka, which is distilled from pure Vermont maple syrup, and some of our St. Johnsbury gin, which is like a very floral, citrus botanical gin.”
Face painting, beer and pizza from Pizza Chef, and drinks from SILO Distillery will be returning this year. As will Ana’s Empanadas, which will offer its namesake food and lemonade. Various kinds of bread will be available for purchase from NAGA Bakehouse. There will also be samples and sales of maple syrup from Mettawee Valley Maple, sauces and seasonings from Big Dog Sauce Co., and smoked and grilled foods from Jeezeum Crow Foods. VT Farmstead Cheese will offer their signature grilled cheese sandwiches. Other food and drink vendors include Little & Co. Coffee, Mad River Distillery, The Olive Table, and Howlin Good Kettle Corn.
Live music will start at 10 a.m. with teenage duo “Rivalry.” Live music will run throughout the day, featuring acts such as Liz Reedy, The Milkhouse Heaters, and the J&J Snyder Band. These bands represent new additions to the musical lineup, according to Finlayson, and are meant to be just as important to the experience as the products for sale.
“We are building the music as something that’s a highlight of the event,” said Finlayson. “We’ve been working with Jim Yeager, who is a musician himself and a board member of the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce, and it’s been his goal to make it a food and music festival.”
The music lineup will conclude with “some great street dance music” provided by the Funky Flats, said Finlayson.
Finlayson also says several of the vendors will specialize in the area of health and wellness.
This year will see the first appearance of the Upper Valley Aquatic Center (UVAC), which is based in Hartford. UVAC associate executive director Jennifer Baxter said their presence at the festival will give them a chance to grow a membership base and appeal as a fitness and athletic center in the area. “We see that our reach is growing, and it goes further out west towards, towards Bridgewater, towards Killington, Bethel, all those areas,” said Baxter. “We know we’ll have a bunch of tourists that are in town from the nearby states.”
As far as offerings go, Baxter said, “UVAC will have a table where we will be presenting information on our popular learn-to-swim programs for children and adults, promoting our highly regarding Swim Team, our holiday and summer camp programs, our new small group training program called Tribe. We will have a Spin the Wheel there with a chance to win some UVAC items, including day passes.”
Clean energy will also be on the menu at Taste of Woodstock from solar groups such as the Rutland-based Same Sun of Vermont. Co-founder Marlene Allen said this year will be their first time as an integrated part of the event, having been part of the event’s separate Solar Showcase on The Green in recent years. “Part of our mission is to make solar normal, so we’d want to see the people that are strolling down the street and they see a solar company,” said Allen.
Same Sun of Vermont will be handing out catalogs and photo books on “who we are, what we do, with photos of some of our work, and our mission statement,” said Allen. This will include information on solar installation for new customers, solar array services for those who already use the technology, and the prospect of EV charger installation.
Allen noted that Same Sun is currently working with the Woodstock Inn to install commercial EV chargers in their parking lot.
“It should be a fun day of good food and beverages, and great music,” said Finlayson.