We are very proud of what we were able to accomplish thanks to the inspiration of KAEL.  The official Warner Fall Foliage Festival food tents enjoyed a 25% increase in revenues thanks to the Eat Local commitment. If you can just imagine, we were actually “out of order” for ½ day in the food tent (technical glitches with the grills prevented us from cooking and selling food); had that not happened we are certain increased revenues would have been a minimum of 40%.

The Festival is a major community event and we see it as an excellent opportunity to put a "white hot light" or a “green light” on the importance of supporting our local economy.  With the current economic conditions and the rising awareness of supporting local farms for food sources it only made sense that the festival supports the Eat Local initiative.

Many thanks to the small army who participated in making this all happen.  Without you it would not have happened at the level we were able to bring this - seriously we made 18 gallons of pickles/relish, 4 1/2 gallons of ketchup, 200 pounds of coleslaw and 50 pounds of potato salad. Let’s not forget the chopping and slicing of 200 pounds of peppers and onions; all sourced from our local farms.  Spectacular!

The Festival Official Food Tents supported the following vendors for the 2011 event:

Arthur Mountain, Bradford NH

    ● 250 pounds sausage ● 50 pounds bacon ● 600 chicken halves

Blackwater Mustard Company, Contoocook NH

    ● Sweet Hot Mustard

Bradford Junction Restaurant, Bradford NH

    ● 25 Loaves Sliced Bread

Cabot, Montpelier VT

    ● 15 cases Mild Cheddar Cheese

Clovis Moon Café, Warner NH

    ● 450 Mini whoopie Pies

Contoocook Creamery, Contoocook NH

    ● 50 Gallons milk

Courser Farm, Warner NH

    ● Assorted Vegetables & Pumpkins (lots!)

Divine Café & Grill, Exeter NH

    ● 48 Veggie Burgers

Foothills, Warner NH

    ● 400 mini whoopie pies

Karen’s Seafood, Manchester NH

    ● 20 Gallons Clam Chowder

Kearsarge Gore Farm, Warner NH

    ● Assorted Vegetables (lots!)

Koffee Kup Bakery, Burlington VT

    ● 4,000 Assorted Rolls

Madhouse Munchies, Burlington VT

    ● 1,200 bags of chips

Maine Sea Salt Company, Marshfield ME

    ● Salt

Michelle’s Greenhouse, Bradford NH

    ● Assorted Vegetables (lots!)

Miles Smith Farm, Loudon NH

    ● 1,400 Beef Burgers

Musterfield Farm, North Sutton NH

    ● 80 Pounds Cabbage

Provincial Palate, Gilmanton NH

    ● Horseradish Tarragon Mustard

Sanders, Portsmouth NH

    ● 250 Lobsters

Schoolhouse Café, Warner NH

    ● 15 Gallons Clam Chowder

Schonlands, Chelsea MA

    ● 1,000 Hot Dogs

The Vegetable Ranch, Warner NH

    ● Assorted Vegetables (lots!)

Work Song Farm, Hopkinton NH

    ● 25# Assorted Peppers

As illustrated above you can see that the festival consumption is no joke. We are very proud to have matched our needs to local farms & vendors.

We should also thank the Lion’s Club who serves up Buffalo all sourced from Warner’s own Buffalo Farm, Yankee Farmers Market. They are a staple at the festival and we are proud to have caught up with them in the effort to Eat Local.

Arnie’s Ice Cream from Concord, NH is also a festival favorite and all who enjoy the wonderful ice cream should know it’s made with all local ingredients. Arnie goes so far as to freeze enough local fruit to meet his volume requirements for the year.

New to the festival this year and hopefully making an annual appearance was Concord COOP’s Celery Stick Café. They were another great fit, we were proud to have them join us this year.

The Foothills also joined us on the Midway this year and were a big hit with a quite an assortment of main course and dessert items. Thanks for the support!

The message we wanted folks to walk away with was that Eat Local is always a better choice and no - it didn't come at a higher price.  Most importantly we celebrated our coveted festival by getting back to our roots and supporting all aspects of the community at whatever effort it took.

The Festival has its share of challenges however the Eat Local effort was truly not one of them. Folks may not understand that a lot (most) of our revenues go right back out as expenses that cannot be avoided such as extra police patrols, entertainment and adequate insurance.  The volunteers are the only thing that continues to make the event itself feasible.  Seriously.

It’s safe to say the “heavy lifting” is done by way of locating local food sources and a small army of committed individuals to this effort. We would like to extend a special thanks to the community for enthusiastically supporting Eat Local & the Festival in general. Please join us for the Annual Fall Foliage Festival meeting December 1st to express support of the Eat Local initiative. The Board of Directors of the Warner Fall Foliage Festival meets at 6 p.m. in the Frank Maria room of the Pillsbury Free Library on Main Street in Warner.

We would like to express a special thank you to our local vendors who work so hard to bring quality food to our community. We are a proud to be your partner. Cheers to a bountiful 2012 and we look forward to working with you next year!