HarvestFest Schedule of Events!

Click the HarvestFest poster for a Schedule of Events

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.

Lemonade Stand in Dock Square...

...also featuring organic chocolate cupcakes & organic blueberry cake. Rockport Festivals Committee members Anne Hyde and Sue Andersen are shown above, wowing patrons ready for a refreshing lemonade. Donations accepted, with all proceeds going toward this year's Rockport HarvestFest the weekend of October 16th.

Look for our lemonade (or hot chocolate) stand to be set up in Dock Square a few times throughout the year as we welcome Rockporters and visitors with a cold beverage or a warm drink - depending on the season. It's fun to see people we already know and meet people we don't, spread the word about the great things happening downtown and raise money for Rockport Festivals' programming, all in one fell swoop.

Come on down y'all! The stand is up until 4:30 or the lemonade runs out...

The Arts Scene in Rockport is Heating Up This Summer!

Michael Lutch for the New York Times

Check out this review of Rockport Music's new Shalin Liu Performance Center's opening night in the New York Times.

The opening of the performance center is a watershed moment for the arts in Rockport. It is now clear that Cape Ann possesses, not only a heritage of the arts, but a vibrant scene where art in every medium is supported today.

Rockport Music's expanded programming will contribute enormously to bringing recognition to the amazing community of artists here in Rockport and Cape Ann, even as the organization brings in performers from all over the world.

Our hope, as Rockport Festivals, is to be a part of this watershed moment by partnering with groups such as Rockport Music, as well as other non-profits, local businesses and individuals - all of us working to bring downtown to life with community-oriented festival programming.

We'd love to have you, as an integral part of this community, join us!

Speaking of which, we have some great things in store for our Rockport HarvestFest. Be sure to put Saturday, October 16th on your calendar now. And plan to make a weekend of it, with our kickoff event scheduled for Friday, October 15th and various community events going on Sunday, October 17th. You won't want to miss a thing!