#ForthValleyFoodFest 2019
October 11th - 20th
What is the #ForthValleyFoodFest?
The Forth Valley Food Fest is a food trail and promotional campaign to celebrate local food producers, providers and processors in the Forth Valley region! Running October 11th – 20th, the Festival aims to highlight the tastes of our local food landscape, connect visitors and residents to local food, and support our local food economy. Activites and events vary across the region - scroll down for Festival line-up.
The preliminary line-up for the
2019 Forth Valley Food Fest includes:
** Click on the name of each event for web link and more information **
12th – 27th October, Arnprior Pumpkins
Arnprior, Various times
Pumpkins from £5 (pre-booking required)
- Pick your own pumpkin, get lost in the kale maze, and climb bale mountain. Throughout the week there will be food trucks and coffee vans to keep you fuelled! Pumpkins from £5. Pre-booking of parking spots required (on the website), no entrance fee.
11th - 15th October, Stirling NeighbourFood
Online, Local food market open for pre-orders
- Buying local couldn't be easier! Try out the regions' online ‘click and collect’ local food market, Neighbourfood, run by Forth Environment Link. Pre-order your locally produced staples - everything from bread, jam, cheese, dairy, eggs, meat and veg - online from Oct 11th - 15th, for pick-up at Made in Stirling at 44 King street on October 17th (16:30 - 18:30).
12th October, Stirling Farmers' Market
Port St. Stirling, 10:00 - 16:00
- Buy locally made produce from the Forth Valley. Some local vendors selling at the market include jams and chutneys from Perthshire Preserves (Stirling), sourdough bread and pastry from Riverside Bakery CIC (Stirling), and some sweet treats from Ochil Fudge (Alloa), and more.
11th & 14th October, Gardening Sessions
Stirling University, 14:00 - 16:00
- Did you know that the Green and Blue Space, part of the University of Stirlings' Students Union, has a beautiful organic community garden right on campus? Join co-ordinator Matt and other volunteers for a drop-in gardening session that is open to all, no experience needed.
11th - 18th October, Meet the Goats at Gartur Stitch Farm
Port of Menteith, 11:00 - 13:00
£17, under-12s free (pre-booking required)
- Meet the Goats and the other animals of Gartur Stitch Farm in Port of Menteith. This farm tour begins with sampling pastry or sourdough bread, all made in the farm kitchen from local ingredients mostly grown or foraged on the farm. Participants then head to the barn, to hand milk Dascha - the farms' dairy goat - and hand feed the flock of rarebreed Soay sheep. Online booking required. Adults £17. Children under 12 are free.
17th October, Stirling Neighbourfood collection
Made in Stirling, 16:30 - 18:30
- Come pick up your pre-ordered local goodies at Stirling High school, 16:30pm - 18.30pm. Neighbourfood Stirling, the online ‘click and collect’ local food market run by Forth Environment Link, is open every week. Purchase your local food - bread, jam, cheese, dairy, eggs, meat, veg and more - via this online market, open Thursdays - Tuesdays for following Thursday pick-up at Made in Stirling, located at 44 King street in central Stirling.
11th October, Make Your Own Wild Cocktails
Forth Inn - Aberfoyle, 19:00 - 21:30
£10- £25, over 18s only (pre-booking required)
- Using locally foraged wild ingredients we will craft some cocktails and try them with some delicious samples from some of our local food producers, care of Neighbourfood market. Afterward enjoy your cocktail whilst watching a Taiko drumming performance.More about the Taiko drumming: We are pleased to showcase a taiko performance by some of the members Mugenkyo, the UK's only professional Taiko drummers. They can be found performing at events such as the special olympics ceremony, film openings, the grandprix, BBC proms amongst others.
19:00 - 20:30 Wild cocktails, local food nibbles & Taiko show - £25
21:00 Taiko show only - £10
Over 18s only
11th - 20th October, Local Food promotions at The Smiddy
The Smiddy Farm Shop in Blair Drummond, 09:00 - 17:00
- Stop by the Smiddy Farm Shop & Butchery in Blair Drummond to browse, taste, and shop local! They will be running promotions in the butchery and cafe throughout the Forth Valley Food Festival to highlight their love for local! In the butchery, they are promoting local beef (from Lochfield Farm, Doune) and lamb from Grassmainston Farm, Clackmannan. They are also promoting Old Leckie Eggs (Gargunnock) on our breakfast and lunch menu and in our shop, plus Monument Honey (Stirling) in our shop. Our Deli will be promoting cheese from the Srathearn Cheese Company, Comrie.
11th - 17th October, Seasonal Sourdough
Riverside Bakery CIC, Various locations to buy
- Pumpkin bread or spiced apple buns anyone? Riverside Bakery CIC, Stirling's own sourdough bakery-by-bicycle is participating in this year's Food Festival by offering a range of special seasonal and local products! Available at the Stirling Farmers' Market on Oct 12th, or via the Stirling Neighbourfood weekly online local food market (pre-order Oct 11th-15th for pick-up on the 17th) throughout the Festival period.
What is the #ForthValleyFoodFest?
The Forth Valley Food Fest is a food trail and promotional campaign to celebrate local food producers, providers and processors in the Forth Valley region! Running October 11th – 20th, the Festival aims to highlight the tastes of our local food landscape, connect visitors and residents to local food, and support our local food economy. Activites and events vary across the region - scroll up for Festival line-up.
If you're interested in being a participant or for more information, please contact Ashley Robinson, the Local Food & Drink Coordinator, at Robinsona @ stirling.gov.uk.
There are opportunities to sample and buy local products, listen to the stories of how our food goes from field to folk, and experience food production up close. There are a mix of participating businesses, communities and organisations who are local food producers, processors, providers and supporters. No matter what type of participant, all have the common focus on high quality, seasonal, and locally sourced food.
Why the #ForthValleyFoodFest ?
For the overall Forth Valley Food Festival, we want to celebrate, highlight, and support our local food producers, processors and providers across the region.
For the initial promotional/social media campaign, we want to kick off the overall Food Fest, and invite partners to collaborate and be involved in future activities – to work together to host a local food event, a harvest dinner, a food trail, a farm tour, etc.
We also want:
- to raise awareness and visibility of those who produce, provide and process local food in our region
- to highlight the quality food offering within the Forth Valley
- to offer opportunities for people to taste and purchase locally produced food
- to encourage exploration and interaction with our local food landscapes – where our food is grown and reared, created and cooked
- to provide platforms for people to learn more about the provenance of food from our region
- to enable meaningful and authentic food experiences in our region to deepen our food culture
- to drive demand for locally produced food
Who is organising the #ForthValleyFoodFest?
- The Local Food & Drink Co-ordinator, Ashley Robinson, supported by Forth Valley & Lomond LEADER, Stirling Council, and other partners, is behind the Forth Valley Food Festival. She is running the initial promotional campaign, and is actively looking for partners to be involved in upcoming events, trails, dinners, etc.
- To get involved or host an event - please contact Ashley at Robinsona @ stirling.gov.uk
