For the first time in its 34-year history, the Village Peddler Festival will include cooking classes and a tent full of local food entrepreneurs in its mix of crafters, artisans and down home music.
The popular Festival opens at 10 a.m. both Sept. 19 and 20 in the meadows and pavilion at Lake Metroparks Farmpark in Kirtland.
"They have me setting up in the pavilion, where tables and chairs will be waiting," said Judi Strauss, who will show off the preparation of a zucchini and tomato pizza at noon and 2 p.m. Sept. 19 and 1 and 3 p.m. Sept. 20. She'll also sell her latest cookbook, "The Charmed Kitchen."
Strauss, who got her start with gardening for the Cuyahoga County Extension Service, segued into food with canning and preserving sessions in the winter. Soon she was teaching cooking classes framed around skills gained at the extension service and at home, where her father was a baker and her mother was a good home cook.
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She's taught regular cooking classes for two decades for the city of Mentor in its Wildwood Center kitchen, including a weeklong cooking camp for kids each summer. She also teaches at other venues in the area.
Near where Strauss will work at the Village Peddler will be the Local Culinary Marketplace, organized in a tent with handcrafted foods and specialty products, including Carhop's Burger Sauce and Montana Girl Mustard, both produced by Willowick residents, plus Bom Adult Truffles, Rust Belt Pepper Co., Red Hot Spice, Peanut Butter Mill, Randi's Pantry and Back Attack Snacks.
Gina Giallombardo, co-owner with Annette Restifo of Carhop's Burger Sauce, organized the vendors for the show. Both women live in Willowick and met many of the other food entrepreneurs at the Cleveland Culinary Launch & Kitchen. That enterprise at 2800 Euclid Ave. provides kitchen space and business advice to those seeking to make and sell their food products.
Giallombardo's story is similar to that of the Smileys, Willowick neighbors who created Montana Girl Hot Mustard and are selling it throughout the area. See the News-Herald story about them.
Giallombardo invented the hamburger sauce when she owned the Highlander Tavern in Highland Heights and was seeking something to make her hamburgers stand out from all the others. People constantly tell her it tastes a lot like the sauce on the hamburgers sold at the former Bob's Big Boy, a popular drive-in restaurant dating from the 1960s.
But the women don't make that claim. The label says, "It's the only secret sauce you'll ever need."
The mayonnaise-based sauce is low in both sodium and carbohydrates, is gluten-free and has only wholesome ingredients, they claim.
"I got to know Annette when I had the tavern, and she encouraged me to market the sauce," Giallombardo recalled.
The women named it Carhop's Burger Sauce, and it was a hit from the beginning.
"It took off like wildfire, and we began selling it at craft shows and got it in some of big box stores like Discount Drug Mart and Marc's. But we were growing too fast," Giallombardo recalled.
"We both decided that doing shows and being out with people was the direction we wanted to take," she said.
So that's what they do, taking their product to the farmers markets on Friday in Mentor, and Thursday in Painesville and shows such as Village Peddler. Giallombardo's dad, a decorated World War II veteran, lives with her and joins her at shows, and Restifo has kept her full-time medical-assistant job.
Giallombardo especially likes Village Peddler because it attracts those doing early Christmas shopping.
"Our Carhop's Burger Sauce makes a great stocking stuffer," she said.
The festival, which always takes place the third weekend in September, attracts more than 175 juried craftsmen and artisans who travel from all over Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan. The things they create are crafted in the manner of Americana, traditional, country, contemporary and primitive. Items include folk art, baskets, herbs and flowers, pottery, candles, stone garden barns, soaps, cards, wreaths, quilting, dolls, toys, teddy bears, tole painting, inlaid furniture, stained glass, blown glass, primitives, Shaker brooms, birdhouses, jewelry, angels, beach glass creations, original art, clothing, hats, scarves, purses, santas and snowmen, painted gourds, potpourri, wind chimes and miniatures. Find handcrafted tables, benches, stools and shelves, woven rugs, slate painting photography and fine art.
Music from guitarist and soloist Bev Newbold will alternate with the Silver String Band as the backdrop both days as scents of good food fill the air. Hungry visitors will find creamed chicken and biscuits, gourmet pizza, smoothies, pulled pork, beef brisket, french fries, roasted corn on the cob and potatoes, homemade pies, ice cream, fresh lemonade, kettle corn, fudge and apple fritters.
Village Peddler Festival
10 a.m to 6 p.m. Sept. 19; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sept 20.
Lake Metroparks Farmpark, 8800 Euclid Chardon Road (Route 6) in Kirtland.
Admission: adults $7 , seniors $6 and children 2 to 11 $4. Parking and children under 2 are free. Details: www.villagepeddlerfestival.com; 440-503-8414.
Source: Village Peddler Festival at Lake Metroparks Farmpark adds big food component
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