Families, friends and neighbors all gathered on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon at the Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, Maryland, for the Charles County Food and Wine Festival. Food trucks rolled in from the District of Columbia and some from Prince George’s County (Feelin’ Crabby? and Capital Chicken and Waffles to name a couple). Lawn chairs were planted as people took residence of the Blue Crabs baseball field with wine glasses (which are given upon check-in). Top 100’s blared into the stadium and local fashion, art, and organization vendors stationed themselves in various locations. The sun beamed and families got to their feet to do line dances to popular songs like “The Wobble,” “Cupid Shuffle” and an oldie but goodie “Apache (Jump On It).”
The key theme was “local.” That meant that the food sold were from local businesses, the jewelry and purses one vendor had was from a local boutique, and the art was from a local artist. Most important, the wine poured to be tasted and bought were from local vineyards. Such wineries like Layton’s Chance Vineyard and Winery from Eastern Shore, were present and even more local was the Port of Leonardtown Winery. Each wine kiosk provided a brief tasting of the wines they create in their rightful vineyards. Port of Leonardtown seemed especially popular with signature wines such as Breton Bay Breeze (a sweet wine) Breton Bay Shoals (more sweet than the Breton Bay Breeze) and Traminette (by far the sweetest of all their wines).
The festival had something there for everyone (of drinking age children were recommended to not attend) to enjoy and discover. This quintessential event was the first of its kind and with its turnout and success, it will most definitely not be its last. Be sure to bring an empty stomach and an experimental palate for next year’s affair.
