The Farm-to-Fork Street Festival has returned. Here are all the can’t-miss vendors, shows

This year’s Farm-to-Fork Festival, back after the coronavirus pandemic forced its cancellation in 2020, will feature the good food, drinks and entertainment Sacramentans have come to expect. But it will also feature a couple new twists, like one that will get many attendees excited: this year, popular Lockeford Meats and Sausage has invested in two booths instead of just one, according to Visit Sacramento.

The street festival, which kicks off Sept. 17, will feature around 75 vendors, according to Visit Sacramento. Vendors range from food, wine and beer to nonprofits like the Food Literacy Center and local sports teams such as the Sacramento Kings, according to Visit Sacramento Chief Communications Officer Kari Miskit. Here are the sites you won’t want to miss at this year’s Farm-to-Fork Festival.

‘Breaking Bread’

One new and different event at the festival will be a live conversation about a new Visit Sacramento reality show called Breaking Bread. The show, which is thus far comprised of a six-episode first season but does not yet have a debut date, features chefs from around the region talking about food and social issues. The event at the festival, which starts at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, will also include a showing of the trailer for the show.

“They’re talking about immigration, they’re talking about mental health in the kitchen, they’re talking about how they source locally,” Mike Testa, president and chief executive of Visit Sacramento, said.

The talk will feature chefs Patrick Mulvaney, Oliver Ridgeway, Q Bennett and sommelier Elizabeth-Rose Mandalou.

Sponsored vendors

Visit Sacramento as an organization is working to focus more on diversity and inclusion. This year, Visit Sacramento partnered with Bank of America to underwrite vendor scholarships for potential first-time vendors who are people of color.

Bank of America is underwriting five vendors at the festival this year, and Visit Sacramento is sponsoring a sixth. Bank of America is sponsoring One Love Toffee Candy Company, Épicée, La Minerva, The Burnt Skillet and Boone’s Red Onions while Visit Sacramento is sponsoring Black Coffee Roastery.

Cooking demonstrations

There are several must-see demonstrations taking place on the UC Davis Demo Stage.

Trifecta Inc., a Sacramento-based organic food delivery service, will host a demonstration at 4:30 p.m. Saturday and Old Soul Co. and Temple Coffee Roasters will host a coffee talk at 6:30 p.m., also on Saturday. Butchers from Taylor’s Market will hold a butchering demonstration Saturday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. The group performing is part of the Team USA butchering squad, which will compete at the World Butchers’ Challenge coming to Sacramento in 2022.

For the kids

This year, there’s no dedicated kid play zone. Because of COVID protocols, organizers want to keep everything more spread out.

But Miskit and Testa both have kids, and they recommended taking kids to some of the nonprofit stations like the Food Literacy Center for the Center for Land-Based Learning. There, kids can learn what farm-to-fork as a concept really means. Kids will also enjoy all the available free goodies vendors tend to give out, Testa and Miskit said.

This story was originally published September 10, 2021 at 5:00 AM.