Waterfront Wine & Food Festival

Mays Landing Merchants Association will present two days of palate pleasing gourmet goodies

The already excellent fall festival season in our region has a new event that will hopefully become an annual affair when the Mays Landing Merchants Association presents the Waterfront Wine & Food Festival Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 22-23, at Lake Lenape Park East in Mays Landing.

The outdoor event featuring nine wineries, tastings from area restaurants, food merchants, cooking demonstrations, food and wine vendors and live music, will take place daily from noon-5pm. Tickets are $17 per day in advance, purchased at the festival Web site and $20 at the gate. Two-day tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the gate.

The festival will feature multiple tastings from nine wineries: Renault, Tomasello, Amalthea Cellars, Auburn Road Vineyards, Coda Rossa, Di Matteo Vineyard, Plagidos, Sharrot and Wagonhouse.

The Academy of Culinary Arts at Atlantic Cape Community College will present a demonstration and then offer their finished products to the attendees.

Music will also be offered at the event featuring some top local performers. Beth Tinnon, an award-winning regular at casino lounges, will entertain on Saturday. Legends of Song, who sing the songs of classic crooners including Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, will perform both days and another casino regular, the Jon Pruitt Trio, headlines Sunday. Pruitt is a Mays Landing resident who has toured with Blood, Sweat & Tears in addition to an extensive resume on the casino lounge circuit.

Besides the wine and food tastings and culinary demonstrations, other local restaurants and craft vendors will have booths featuring their wares for sale. Those vendors include Poppy’s Bagels, Cousin Mario’s, Casey and Ben’s Lobster Den, DeFeo’s Farm Market, Brownies Squared Bake Shop. Seaside Cheese Company, Good School Carvings and the Tap It Home Brew Supply Company. The latter features equipment to make you own microbrew at home.
 
Merchant Association spokesman Arlene Blosch explains that the merchants hope this will be successful enough to become an annual event. “We set it up to be an annual event. Absolutely. We know that year one is an ‘if’ [if it is successful], but we’ve generated a lot of excitement about the event and we hope that excitement generates ticket sales.”