Foodies Rejoice! Annual Pepper Festival – October 6th & TerraVita Food & Wine Event October 10-12th

If you’re a voracious local foodie, a supporter of North Carolina’s sustainable agriculture or just enjoy good music and a cold beer, don’t miss the 6^th Annual Amazing Pittsboro Pepper Festival this Sunday, October 6th, from 3-7pm at Boulder Park in Briar Chapel, Chapel Hill.

The Pittsboro Pepper Festival aims to spread the superfood power of regional peppers while promoting local food, fun, and community. All proceeds from the Pittsboro Pepper Festival go toward sustainable agriculture education and research in the Piedmont of North Carolina through The Abundance Foundation and Piedmont Biofarm, both located at The Plant in Pittsboro.

Photo courtesy of the Abundance Foundation

The festival features over 30 local chefs from Raleigh, Chapel Hill, Durham, Cary, Greensboro, Carrboro and Pittsboro who choose from a wide variety of heirloom local peppers (everything from sweet to hot!) to create their most creative pepper dish or drink to serve in person at the bustling festival.

Pepper Kings and Queens, kid’s activities, and a community of local food lovers, sustainable agriculture activists and sustainability educators will be a part of the event. Fun for the whole family includes a Vegetable Circus, hula-hoops, face painting, and the return of the legendary big bubbles on the green. Musical entertainment provided by Big Fat Gap, Loamlands, and Steph Stewart and the Boyfriends!

Admission
$30 in advance, $35 at the gate. Kids under 12 get in free!To purchase tickets and get more information please visit the festival website.

photo courtesy the Abundance Foundation

About the Abundance Foundation
The Abundance Foundation is empowering the Piedmont on sustainable agriculture, renewable energy, and local economy through DIY workshops, community-building events, and by actively engaging youth.

TerraVITA Food & Wine Event, named one of the “10 Southern Food Festivals You Need to Taste” by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, has earned its reputation as a premier culinary event in the Southeast because it highlights local and sustainable food and beverages of superior quality. This October, TerraVITA returns for its fourth year, offering a series of educational and tasting events featuring renowned North Carolina chefs, artisans and makers of top local and sustainable wines, microbrews, coffee and spirits. Tickets are still available for the Grand Tasting on the Green and a few other select events, visit  www.TerraVITAevent.com for ticket availability.

TerraVITA Grand Tasting Event 2011
(photo courtesy of TerraVITA)

Oct. 12, Grand Tasting on the Green
TerraVITA culminates on Saturday, Oct. 12 with the Grand Tasting on the Green. Seriously delicious food from exceptional restaurants across North Carolina will be offered alongside more than 100 sustainably-produced beverages from around the globe. Returning favorites include On The Square in Tarboro, French Broad Chocolate Lounge in Asheville, Herons Restaurant from The Umstead Hotel & Spa in Cary, and Chef & The Farmer in Kinston; new restaurants and rising stars include Ashten’s in Southern Pines, Little Hen in Holly Springs, Spring House in Winston Salem, and Cameo 1900 in Wilmington. Organic coffee producers, biodynamic, organically-grown and natural wines, and a dozen sustainably-produced microbrews and local distilleries will also be on site for sipping and sampling. Live music and a silent and live auction benefiting the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation (www.cff.org) will take place under the Grand Tasting Tent at Southern Village.

(photo courtesy of TerraVITA)

As in years past, TerraVITA has set the additional goal of producing a zero waste event by employing the intensive use of compostable and recyclable goods and recycling nearly all of the waste produced at the event.

Sponsors of TerraVITA include Chapel Hill Orange County Visitors Bureau, The Local Palate, North Carolina Department of Agriculture, Mitre Agency, TOPO Great Room & Distillery, PNC Bank, The Siena Hotel, Our State magazine, Locals Seafood, Edible Piedmont, and Orange County Waste Management, and more.

For more information, please visit www.TerraVITAevent.com