Sturgeon County Bounty Fall 2011

One Saturday morning, not so long ago, I threw the bed covers aside, breathed in the crisp fall air and declared to the family “Unpacking this new house be darned, we’re going to the Sturgeon County Bounty!”

And I was officially the Bestest Mom EVER.

I’m betting a lot of you know about the Haunted Pumpkin Festival out at Prairie Gardens, but I’m going to hazard a guess and bet that you don’t know about the Sturgeon County Bounty.

And I can’t say that I did either, until I received a lovely invitation from Patrick Earl, the Economic Development Coordinator for Sturgeon County, telling me to come on out and taste test my way through some of the best food Sturgeon County has to offer.

I took one look at the mounds of boxes waiting to be unpacked in my new house and wrote an affirmative response email back to him so fast that my keyboard started smoking. I could not hit send fast enough.

Coinciding with the very first day of the Pumpkin Festival, this piggybacking tastefest makes what already is a much beloved October tradition one that actually will have a set date in our house, rather than choosing a random weekend in October. Your admission to the Pumpkin Festival includes this event on that day with tickets for food ringing up at $1 apiece.

Food prices range from 1-8 tickets, the most expensive being the butter chicken dish that we didn’t actually try.

The purty ladies at D’Lish.

Oh. You had me at split pea and ham hock soup. And D’Lish makes some dang delish soup. I think they are going to be my next date night destination.

It was the kind of day that drew you to the hot foods like a moth to the proverbial flame. A slight nip to the air and the crunch of leaves under your feet just made you crave the soups.

These Prairie Cinnamon Sugar Nuts from The Nutty Diva are addicting. I was very VERY sad that the Pumpkin Spice ones were gone by the time I got around to dessert. I am still kicking myself. Gah. Why did I wait? WHY??!!

This adorable boy here is eating MY soup, I’ll have you know. Don’s Bistro makes a killer pumpkin soup, one that was stolen from me as soon as he tasted it. He finished the whole dang thing.

Saskaturkey! As good as it sounds my friends, courtesy of Rafter 2M Farms.

Mountain Meadows Food Processing Rocky Road Peabutter cups. Absolutely amazing and you cannot tell there isn’t real peanut butter in it.

And their gluten free cupcakes.

Gee, which table do you think my kids liked the best?

Hmm, though the ice cream did run a close second to the cupcakes.

I almost lost  my husband to this pie. Mike loves pumpkin pie more than any other sweet on this planet. He eats it like pizza, cold and with no cutlery. Just takes a slice and walks away, munching.

This beauty had to be eaten on the plate due to the whipped cream on top but he didn’t love it any less. In fact, he has declared that the Prairie Gardens pumpkin pie is simply the best he has ever tasted.

And that man gets around when it comes to pumpkin pie, it’s almost embarrassing at times.

He has found his true love. And that’s ok. I can compete with pie.

I think.

After you’ve eaten your fill and checked out the local artisans also featured,  you can spend hours enjoying what the Pumpkin Festival has to offer. I have a lot more pictures here but here’s the two cutest.

My one cutest.

My other cutest.

All in all I have to say this just might have been my favorite food festival of the year. The cooler weather combined with smaller crowds – than Heritage Festival for example- with decently priced food followed by endless fun for my family made this a perfect Saturday.

This achieves what a Taste of Edmonton has lost, the uniqueness and noncommercial aura that makes a festival, a festival. There are also guidelines in place making sure that the restaurants use local foods in order to enter this event, weeding out a lot of the chain restaurants that seem to have taken over a Taste of Edmonton, a complete bonus in my opinion.

Now I guess the summer event that happens on Canada Day at CFB Edmonton is HUGE compared to this one with a lot more vendors and a lot more food, thus meaning a lot more people however. This one has my heart as I love nothing better than the food that Autumn brings us.

Thanks again to the organizers of this amazing event for inviting us, we can’t wait to check out whatever’s coming next!

Love,

The My Husbands Talking About That Pie in His Sleep Magpie