LSU AgCenter will be hosting its fourth annual Garden Fest this Saturday at the AgCenter Botanic Gardens at Burden. Festival Organizer Jeff Kuehny summarized the festival as an “outdoor educational experience for the whole family.”
The festival’s main focus is to provide the Baton Rouge community with the opportunity to learn about products grown in Louisiana, including organic fruits and vegetables, and about the local preparation of these foods.
A slew of new and untested peppers and tomatoes will be available to try for the first time. Garden Fest is allowed to test these vegetables this year because the botanic gardens at LSU are officially recognized as an All-America Selections Trial Garden.
In the morning, there will be a hayride circling the botanic gardens, and festival goers will be able to sample a wide variety of fruits and vegetables prepared individually.
According to the news release on the AgCenter’s website, the Louisiana Department of Agriculture and Forestry and the Louisiana Egg Commission will prepare and serve omelets from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. After the omelets, attendees can grab a Bloody Mary prepared by Mason’s Grill from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Chefs from the Louisiana Culinary Institute will be cooking five separate dishes for lunch, including a meat dish, a dessert and different types of salsa.
Last year, the festival’s attendance reached more than 2000 people. Kuehny said some of the new major draws of this year’s festival include the singer/songwriter showcase, an antique tractor show and the Garden Fest Cocktail Contest.
The cocktail contest requires contestants to use one Louisiana spirit and one Louisiana-grown food to submit their cocktail to a board of judges, which includes several Louisiana-based distillers, bartenders and cocktail experts. Attendees who are 21 and older will be allowed to taste the cocktails after the contest is finished.
Kuehny said Baton Rouge Music Studios will be showcasing local singer/songwriters in the latter part of the festival, but the artists will play for fun, not competitively.
The overall message of the festival is to encourage Louisianians “to use and eat local foods and products,” said Kuehney. “Unlike other festivals, it is a great opportunity to see food grown, harvested and prepared all in one place.”
The festival begins this Saturday at 7:30 a.m. and tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for ages 4 to 21 and children under 3 will be admitted free of charge. Burden is located on Essen Lane off of I-10.