Homegrown SOL Food Festival Set for Sept. 29

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By David Fortson for the SOL Food Festival

New this year will be the SOL Food Tasting Tent and Marketplace

The SOL Food Festival planning team is proud to present the Third Annual SOL Food Festival on Sept. 29 in Plaza Vera Cruz Park, 130 E. Cota St. in Santa Barbara.

In partnership with the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County, this festival profiles Sustainable, Organic, Local (SOL) food and its role in creating a brighter food future.

Last year’s festival attracted more than 7,000 people to the park to enjoy incredible food, tasty beer and wine, and kids activities, meet local farm animals, enjoy educational workshops and network with fellow foodies.

This year’s festival will feature a variety of educational workshops, including backyard poultry, food security, beer brewing and compost making to name a few. The wildly popular SOL Chef Competition will feature some of the region’s most talented chefs cooking up a storm with food procured from the Santa Barbara Farmers Market.

Also featured again in 2012 will be the kid-approved “Hungry Caterpillar” workshop and dozens of exhibitors representing the breadth and depth of the Santa Barbara County food world. Finally, do not miss the Salad Eating Contest that puts the infamous nationally televised hot dog-eating contests to shame.

New this year to the SOL Food Festival is the SOL Food Tasting Tent and Marketplace, giving festival-goers the chance to sample and purchase the delicious food and drink prepared by local food artisans.

Save the Date: Santa Barbara Green Drinks will host a SOL Food benefit at the Lobero Theatre from 6 to 8 p.m. Sept. 18. A series of other SOL Food benefits are also now in the planning stages.

Special thanks to our early sponsors, especially premier sponsor Cox Cable. Others include Santa Barbara ParenClick, the Santa Barbara Independent, Rincon Broadcasting/KTYD, the Santa Barbara Farmers Market, the Isla Vista Food Co-op, Whole Foods, The Fund for Santa Barbara, EpicureSB, Edible Santa Barbara and the Center for Sustainable Medicine.

Special thanks to the fiscal agent and partner of the SOL Food Festival, the Foodbank of Santa Barbara County and marketing partner LoaTree.

Click here for more information about the SOL Food Festival.

— David Fortson represents the SOL Food Festival.

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