CBF Food & Farm Fest Celebrates Delicious Local Fare, Family Fun, and Environmentally Friendly Farming

With fall just around the corner, the Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) invites you to join our celebration of the Bay region’s best local food and drink from noon to 4 pm on Saturday, October 14, at CBF’s Clagett farm in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. 

Formerly Burgers & Brews for the Bay, Food & Farm Fest is a “farm-to-table” event where top chefs turn local, sustainably grown produce and grass-fed meats into culinary delights for carnivores, vegans, and everyone in between.  

All-inclusive tickets allow you to spend an autumn afternoon sampling delicious local dishes, sipping craft beverages, enjoying live music, and learning how the regenerative agriculture practices used at Clagett Farm help restore the Bay and fight climate change.  

The farm is centrally located approximately 30 minutes from downtown Washington, D.C., and 40 minutes from Annapolis. Fun activities for children of all ages include hayrides, meeting CBF’s cows and sheep, painting pumpkins, and free professional family portraits. 

Check out our growing list of restaurant partners, who will be showcasing delectable delights from their creative kitchens! Swizzler will serve grass-fed sliders and their famous Chesapeake Fries. Chef Rasheed of Food & Friends will whip up quesadillas, Harvest Thyme Tavern will serve brick-oven pizzas, and Mise En Place Farm will prepare their famous farm tacos!  

Swizzler, located across the street from Nationals Park in D.C., takes your classic burger-joint favorites to the next level with the freshest ingredients from farms around the area. Don’t miss their famous smash burgers and hand-cut fries.  

Food & Friends is a Washington, D.C., nonprofit that provides home-delivered, medically tailored meals and nutrition to people living with cancer, HIV/AIDS, and other serious illnesses.  

Mise En Place is a small compost-driven, no-till farm in Davidsonville that proudly uses regenerative and sustainable practices to grow produce and spices, raise chickens, and make honey. 

Rik and Pam Squillari, co-owners and executive chef and pastry chef, respectively, of Harvest Thyme Tavern in Davidsonville, blend the robust flavors of Italy that inspire Rik with breads and pastries that reflect Pam’s Eastern European heritage to create unique, seasonal offerings from sustainably-sourced ingredients. 

Local brewers and beverage providers can help you find the perfect craft beers and non-alcoholic drinks to complement whatever you’re sampling. Serving up refreshing beverages of all kinds will be Forward Brewing of Annapolis; Baltimore brewers Heavy Seas Beer and Union Craft Brewing; Devils Backbone Brewing Company located in Lexington, Va.; and Upper Marlboro-based distributor Bob Hall, LLC. 

On hand to get toes tapping and feet stomping will be the “electric newgrass” band Swamp Donkey. The five-man group puts on a high-energy show with an eclectic mix of original songs and creative covers, all in its signature big sound. 

At Clagett Farm, CBF uses regenerative farming methods such as planting cover crops, practicing no-till, and rotating pastures where livestock graze to improve water quality, build healthy soil, sequester carbon, and boost the farm’s resiliency to climate change. It is located on 283 acres at 11904 Old Marlboro Pike. 

Each year, Clagett Farm produces tens of thousands of pounds of fresh produce to supply the community-supported agriculture (CSA) program. The Clagett Farm CSA serves roughly 250 shareholders who invest in the farm before the growing season begins. In return, CSA members receive an abundant share of local produce over the 26-week CSA season.  

Clagett Farm also donates more than 30 percent of its weekly harvest to the Capital Area Food Bank and Prince George’s County Food Rescue. Last year CBF donated a total of 23,000 pounds of farm-fresh produce to these critical community partners.  

Clagett Farm also operates a nursery that supplies many of the native trees that CBF helps farmers and other landowners plant near waterways to trap and filter polluted runoff before it can reach creeks, streams, and rivers that feed into the Bay. Food & Farm Fest guests will have the opportunity to sample the bounty of the farm, learn how to join our CSA, and purchase native trees and grass-fed beef and lamb on site during the event. 

Sponsorship opportunities for Farm & Food Fest are still available and tickets are on sale now. For more information, please contact Jessica Rubino at [email protected].