Local Foodie Festivals to Look Out For
There are fantastic food events on all year round in the Park, so keep your eyes peeled.
Mhor Fest
Every May the genteel surrounds of Monachyle Mhor hotel are taken over by ever-increasing hordes looking for great food, drink, music and some laughs. With a make-your-own raft race, Pie & a Pint in a barn, multiple food producer stands, food vans, several bars, live music and the evening starry chef-made Feast, which sells out fast, this is a foodie highlight of the year in the Park.
Loch Lomond Food & Drink Festival
This is a great big festive celebration beside Loch Lomond in Balloch, bringing together scores of food and drink producers over a September weekend, during Scottish Food Fortnight. Make sure you arrive hungry, as there’ll be plenty to eat, from buffalo burgers to venison steaks, home-baking in all shapes and sizes, gourmet Scottish popcorn, plenty of confectionary and specialist chocolate, fresh fruit and veg, well-bred beef and much more. 2015 – the festival’s 10th anniversary – even saw a gourmet dog-treat supplier! And although the weekend can attract up to 30,000 visitors, the Lomond Shores location has the capacity to still make it feel intimate, with lots of small stalls and a little live music to keep everyone in the party mood. It’s perfect for families, featuring innovative foodie activities such as a haggis-eating competition, food foraging sessions, cooking for kids, and herb walks. There’s even an entire ale festival on the side, with local microbrewery Loch Lomond Brewery’s hoppy beers plus around 30 visiting breweries, which culminates in an grown-up sounding Ale & Beach Party.
Loch Fyne Food Fair
Held beside the Loch Fyne Oyster Bar in Cairndow, this two-day May festival is a purely food-oriented affair, with stalls from all the local producers as well as Loch Fyne Oysters themselves. 2015 saw a food tent stuffed with goodies from Winston Churchill Venison, the Real MacKay Stovies, Great Glen Game, Fyne Preserves, Crystal Shortbread, coffee from the Home Ground Coffee Company, Cullisse Rapeseed Oils, Hand Made Oatcakes, Rare Breed Scotch eggs and Bumble Puddings, plus more. They also held an assortment of workshops such as bread and cake making, as well as showing short foodie films on a Wee Green Cinema, powered by cycle power, and live music to keep everyone in a party mood – plus activities for kids, including climbing wall, bouncy castle rides and face painting.
Fyne Fest
This is a small-scale beer, food and music festival held in June in the stunning Glen Fyne. With about 2000 visitors over a weekend, folk enjoy over 150 craft beers from the UK and beyond. There’s live music on two stages dishing up chilled out DJ vibes, to blues, ska and more, and of course, cracking food stalls selling everything from local venison to posh burgers, wood-fired pizzas and offerings from Bowl Food a renovated food truck serving hot fresh food such as pulled pork, or creole curry – you guessed it, in bowls – as well as much more.