The California Artisan Cheese Festival Returns to the Sonoma County Fair & Event Center

The California Artisan Cheese Guild has been sponsoring the annual California Artisan Cheese Festival for 16 years and after moving to virtual due to the pandemic, it’s back in person in Santa Rosa again. We reached out to the guild’s executive director Anthea Stolz to learn more.

What’s the background of the festival?

The first one started in 2007 and it was around the same time as the California Artisan Cheese Guild. Tom Birdsall owned a hotel in Petaluma and noticed the abundance of cheesemakers in Marin and Sonoma and thought we should get the word out and encourage people to taste the cheeses. It was held in the parking lot in March, which is a slower time for the hotel business, so it seemed like a good time to bring people in to taste cheese, schedule farm tours and experience the sense of place.

That parking lot where marketplace was held is now an apartment building, so we moved to the Sonoma Country fairgrounds.

Are there any other artisan cheese festivals in the US?

The ones I know are hosted by state guilds or councils like Taste of Vermont which holds a great one on the East Coast. The Oregon one hosts a spring festival and a fall event in Portland, similar to our schedule. We changed the date this year to May to due to Covid. The Maine guild hosts one too. They might have been the only one to host one in person last year.

What will the festival be like this year?

It’s just the marketplace this year, so it’s a shift. It’s a busier time and we had to make decisions back in January when there were more restrictions in place for large gatherings. The marketplace was the obvious choice.

We hope to be back with 3 days in 2023. Staffing is really hard for everyone right now. Having a single day event was strategic. But we will have tours and seminars in the future.

Who does the festival attract as attendees?

It’s cheese people! But people who are food lovers, fans of local products of beer, wine and spirits, a lot from the Bay Area but in the past we’ve had national attendees too. There are some diehards who escape winter elsewhere for cheese fun in Sonoma.

Teleeka at Tomales Farmstead Creamery credit Kelly J Owen

Any tips for first time attendees?

For this first time, we are offering tickets with early entry at 11 am rather than noon, so that’s a fantastic way to interact more with the cheesemakers. You’ll have more time and opportunity to taste, a more leisurely pace. It’s been reserved for the media and buyers in the past and it’s only $15 more than a regular ticket.

Pace yourself! It’s a nicely curated selection of local producers so make sure you’re saving room for chocolate, preserves, etc. This year we will have an outside area “shade park” with live music and a place to take a breather or give your palate a rest.

Everyone gets an insulated tote bag with an ice pack with their ticket but I would recommend bringing some cash if you want to buy cheese, there are a few who have a preference for cash.

Who are some of the producers that will be coming back this year?

Cowgirl Creamery, Cypress Grove, Point Reyes Farmstead, Marin French, Laura Chenel, William Cofield, Fiscalini, Sierra Nevada, Beehive is from Utah but they got grandfathered in. Some of the smallest cheesemakers are hoping to join us if they can get staffing squared away.

Any new producers exhibiting?

New producers include Morsey’s Creamery, they are making handmade mozzarella and burrata di bufala. Also Sach Foods with their organic paneer. It’s always great to have new creameries join us.

Any new products you’re personally excited to try?

Quinta from Point Reyes Farmstead is a new cheese many folks may not have tried yet. I’m a fan of habanero jelly from Diane’s Sweet Heat, it pairs well with some fresh cheeses. I like pickles from Golden State Pickle Works, honey from Sola Bee Farms, and I really want to try Alley 6 Craft Distillery from Healdsburg.