Tower Bridge Dinner, Farm-To-Fork Festival to return in September — with some changes
Sacramento’s Farm-to-Fork Festival will return in September after being canceled amid the coronavirus pandemic last year, Visit Sacramento announced Thursday morning.
The uber-exclusive Tower Bridge Dinner will return, as will Legends of Wine, a tasting on the Capitol grounds selected by Sacramento-based, world-renowned aficionados Darrell Corti and David Berkley. For the first time, though, the events will fall on different weekends — Legends of Wine and Tower Bridge Dinner on Sept. 9 and 12, respectively, followed by the mile-and-a-half festival on Capitol Mall Sept. 17 and 18.
The separation allows cooks involved with the Tower Bridge dinner, a multi-course affair for more than 800 people headed by a to-be-announced chef to be announced shortly, to enjoy the region’s bounty the following weekend, Visit Sacramento chief communications officer Kari Miskit said.
“We are thrilled, honestly, at the idea that we can bring back this kind of celebration and joy, especially after we’ve been missing it for so long,” Miskit said. “These events have become so much more than a festival or a dinner or a wine tasting. It’s really a time where we get to come together and honor the people who make this region so special.”
Festival attendance has grown annually since the first iteration in 2012, reaching 155,000 in 2019. Musical acts such as Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, The Wallflowers and Dawes have headlined in years past.
Organizers salvaged what they could last year, opening up multi-course takeout “Tower Bridge Dinners To-Go” from any area restaurant that chose to participate. Granted, the price was much lower than the normal $500 or so for a party of two at the in-person event.
But festival vendors missed the money that would normally be spent on food and drinks (festival admission is free) to say nothing of the cash regional tourists usually spend on restaurants, hotels and other attractions throughout the weekend.
People interested in attending the Tower Bridge Dinner can enter a random drawing July 15 for one of the few seats not reserved by corporate groups. Safety precautions and ticket information for the festival will be determined this summer in accordance with state and federal public health guidelines, Miskit said. Vendors can apply to serve the festival July 1.