Garden City Localfest

Celebrating the Soul of MisSOULa! Saturday, June 22nd, 2013 at Caras Park in Missoula, MT

The Garden City Localfest will kick off with the Local Gourmet Chef challenge with 6 chefs and 6 celebrity sous chefs pairing up for a 'shop, chop, and cook' competition. Local food, beer, wine and treats as well as music and vendor tables, kid's activities and demonstrations. Think Local - Buy Local - Celebrate Local.

The Localfest concept started in ‘08 as the Sustainable Business Council (SBC) was seeking a celebration venue to highlight their “Think Local – Buy Local” campaign as well celebrate “everything Missoula” with local food, drink, artists and general recreational elements unique to the our five valleys area.

A fateful meeting in early ‘09 with SBC’s Sustainability Director Genevieve King and Element’s Tour and Missoula’s local son Seth Warren resulted in a partnership and a date for an event that would coincide with the Best in the West competition at Brennan’s Wave.

With huge support from the Missoula Downtown Association and additional partnerships with the Zootown Surfers, Edible Missoula, ZAC, and others and with financial sponsorship from Big Sky Brewing, First Interstate Bank, Blackfoot Technologies Group, Mountain Line,The Independent, Simmons Media, KECI, Mountain FM the event was launched.

Attendance for the first year event was estimated at between 2,000 to 3,000 people and over 45 local businesses had tables touting their businesses and local ties to the community.

This was the first full-scale Carbon Neutral event in Missoula’s history with both a Biomasss Generator and Seth Warren’s Bio Bus “Baby” providing the Juice for the music acts and general sound system. Additional offsets were purchased from Local Offsetting group ClearSky Climate Solutions.

After what seemed like months of rain and gloom that had preceded the event, on May 16th the sun peeked out and Missoula was ready to party. Music, art, food and drink, Kayakers, muralists, great local everything were on display with many special guests (including Mayor John Engen) setting the stage for a wonderful event and the opportunity for many more Localfests to come.

http://www.GardenCityLocalFest.com