Hot Off the Press: Seattle Cheese Festival Announces Dates for Third Annual Festival

SEATTLE – January 25, 2007 – For the third year, the Seattle Cheese Festival will present more than 250 cheeses from around Washington state and the globe along the main street of the famous Pike Place Market.  With an enduring focus on artisanal and farmstead cheeses, the festival will kick off Friday, May 18 with seminars and hold two days of cheese tasting and more on Saturday, May 19 and Sunday, May 20. A $1 admission fee on Saturday and Sunday will give attendees the opportunity to sample all the cheeses available with part of the proceeds to benefit the Seattle Cheese Festival scholarship fund for aspiring cheesemakers’ educations. 

Similar to the past two festivals, the 2007 Seattle Cheese Festival will include two days of cheese tasting, a wine tent, educational seminars led by local and national cheese experts, a cheese-maze scavenger hunt for children, and partnership with many of the city’s top chefs and restaurants for cooking demonstrations and the “Cheese Fest Best” where restaurants feature artisanal cheese dishes on their menus.  An expanded cheese concourse will allow cheese producers and festival attendees more space to interact, sell and buy cheese, and of course, taste cheese.  Several international cheese producers will make a return trip to Seattle for the festival, including Hervé Mons, who will also lead a seminar. Local favorites Estrella Family Creamery and Mt. Townsend Creamery are expected to attend and many more Pacific Northwest-based producers.

Sponsorship and showcase opportunities are currently being filled.  For more information on participation in the festival contact Anne Theisen, event manager at (206) 849 – 7508 or anne@annetheisen.com.

Seminar panelists and topics are still being confirmed as well as many other festival details.  More information will be release in the months and weeks leading up to the festival. 

First held in 2005, the Seattle Cheese Festival is a non-profit organization formed to educate the public on artisanal, handcrafted and farmstead cheese and to benefit specialty cheese producers.  To learn more about the Seattle Cheese Festival and festival updates visit www.seattlecheesefestival.com.