The annual Comber Earlies Food Festival has relocated its venue to Comber Leisure Centre and plans to celebrate its famed potato “bigger and better than ever”.
For the first time, the festival will be offering a music stage to accommodate several local bands that are due to be perform during the festival; the show will have “plenty” of children’s entertainment and a vintage tractor display.
The festival is running as part of the “taste summer” series of events, which aims to promote and celebrate local food and drink produced in Ards and north Down.
Comber Earlies
Comber Earlies are Northern Ireland’s (NI) “flagship” potato and one of only a small handful of products in NI to have the right to use the blue and yellow European Union (EU) Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) logo since 2012.
The Comber Earlies stand out from the ground due to the rich soil they are grown in and the micro-climate of the Comber area.
The area is sheltered by the Mournes and the Ards Peninsula and “protected from frost by the salt waters” of nearby Strangford Lough, allowing for an earlier harvest than other potato-growing areas.
According to event organisers, visitors to the festival will have the “opportunity to discover how to best cook the prized potato”.
The free-to-attend show will see many cooking demonstrations by top chefs, including broadcaster Lotte Duncan.
Fellow chefs Paula McIntyre, Poppy O’Toole and chefs from South Eastern Regional College (SERC) will also be in attendance and providing demonstrations.
A Comber Cookery school will be hosted by SERC, with the option for a potato themed afternoon tea.
Venturing away from potatos, other local producers will have food and drink stalls on show, including Indie Fude which is preparing a raclette.
The event takes place on Saturday, June 24, and is open from 12:00p.m until 6:00p.m.
