HarvestFest Schedule of Events!

Click the HarvestFest poster for a Schedule of Events

The Harvestfest Lineup: A Contra Dance AND a Polka Band!

Bearskin Neck Leathers, the legendary shop on Old Harbor Road on Bearskin Neck, is sponsoring the special Harvestfest appearance of an equally legendary North Shore band, The Buddy Walker Band, during the festival on Saturday, October 19th. Buddy Walker's band is a classic Polish polka band founded nearly 65 years ago -- and still lead by the original bassist and founder, Buddy Walker. Don't miss a performance by the band, located in front of Bearskin Neck Leathers and performing at 1pm, 2pm and 3pm on Saturday, October 19th! For more information on the performance, check out to Bearskin Neck Leathers' Facebook page.

Git yer dancin' shoes on! Harvestfest includes a contra dance this year, sponsored by our local dance organizers, Cape Ann Contra Dance. We're really excited about this addition to the festival! A caller accompanied by real live actual musicians will be on hand. It will be epic. Dancing in Dock Square? Yes! We're soooooooo there, as the kids say. For more information, click HERE.

Chef Frank McClelland at HarvestFest!

photo courtesy of www.lespalier.com

Don't miss the chance to watch a world-class chef in action as Chef McClelland of L'Espalier and Apple Street Farm is featured in a HarvestFest cooking demonstration at 1:00 pm under the big tent on T-Wharf. For more on Chef McClelland, read this excerpt from his bio, below:

“…food is best when it’s in its purest form. My job is to enhance that natural flavor to allow the essence of the food to sing.” -Frank McClelland

Chef Frank McClelland’s L’Espalier has been a perennial “best” of America’s restaurants for three decades, earning top accolades from Zagat, Forbes, Food & Wine, Bon Appétit, Frommer’s, Wine Spectator and Condé Nast Traveler as well as nods in international media. L’Espalier is New England’s most decorated independent restaurant with twelve consecutive AAA Five Diamond Awards (the only one in Boston) and twelve consecutive Forbes (Mobil) Four-Star awards. He speaks and judges across the country at events like Taste of Vail, Foxwoods Food & Wine Festival and the Chefs Collaborative National Summit.

At the heart of Chef McClelland’s menus of New England flavors with French interpretation is Apple Street Farm, his organic farm in Essex, Massachusetts that is the primary source of heirloom produce and proteins for L’Espalier and his trio of casual Sel de la Terre bistros. The James Beard chef and cookbook author (Wine Mondays) views his life as a farmer-restaurateur as being on-trend. By living this life from his youth, he was early to the farm-to-table or “locavore” dining philosophy.
Chef McClelland's love of “field to fork” cooking began while growing up on his grandparents' farm in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. By the age of 25, he had been a chef in two of the most respected Boston kitchens: The Harvest in Cambridge and L'Espalier. In 1984, he became Executive Chef at The Country Inn at Princeton in Western Massachusetts where he established himself as a culinary talent who made time to know local farmers. At The Country Inn he earned a four-star rating from The Boston Globe as well as being named one of the country's top 25 new chefs by Food & Wine.

Chef McClelland nurtured his love of fresh, regional ingredients and applied his European techniques to create his own signature modern French-influenced cuisine, brought his knives back to L’Espalier, purchased the restaurant outright and never looked back.

Chef Frank McClelland is a New England cooking institution, known for developing the Northeast’s next generation of exciting culinary talent. His restaurants include StarChefs “Rising Stars,” and chefs are sought out by network TV chef shows and industry competitions. Many of Boston’s best-known restaurants are populated with alumni who were mentored under his tutelage.